University of Calgary research leads to brain cancer clinical trial

Researchers at the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute have made a discovery that could prolong the life of people living with glioblastoma — the most aggressive type of brain cancer. Samuel Weiss, PhD, professor and director of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), along with research assistant professor Artee Luchman, PhD, and colleagues published their work Oct. 15 in Clinical Cancer Research, which is leading researchers to start a human phase I/II clinical trial as early as spring 2015. Researchers used tumour cells derived from 100 different glioblastoma patients to test drugs that could target the disease. When these human brain tumour-initiating cells were inserted into an animal model, researchers discovered that when using a drug, AZD8055, combined with Temozolomide (TMZ) — a drug already taken by most glioblastoma patients — the life of the animals was extended by 30 per cent. Read more here.