Canada: Scientists announce innovative treatment for brain cancer

Hibapress

A group of Canadian and American scientists, led by researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, have announced that they have developed a method of treating the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma.

The treatment, the result of a scientific study published in the journal Nature Medicine, uses the body’s own immune cells, called T cells, to target and destroy cancer cells in the brain, said Sheila Singh, director of McMaster University’s Centre For Discovery in Cancer Research.

Having so far only been tested on mice, the official expressed hope of starting human trials before 2030, noting that in the next five years, steps will be taken to move to clinical trials.

The method developed by the research team to treat glioblastoma tumors destroyed them in at least 50% of cases in animal trials, doubling survival times.

Encouraged by these trials, the team then expanded testing to other cancers that invade the brain, beginning testing on pediatric medulloblastoma, a very aggressive cancer in children, Singh noted, noting that the treatment worked even when tested on cancer that had spread to the brain from another part of the body.