CNN —
For decades, a diagnosis of glioblastoma – an aggressive, hard-to-treat cancer in the brain – has been a death sentence for patients.
Only 3% to 5% of people who are diagnosed with this type of brain tumor will be alive
three years later. On average, patients live about 14 months after diagnosis.
Now, an experimental therapy that reprograms a person’s own immune cells to attack these tumors is showing some exciting promise.
Three studies published within the past week have reported dramatic results with a therapy called CAR-T delivered directly to the brain. In some cases, tumors have seemingly melted away on brain scans by the next day.
“That was shocking to me,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, a professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University and former chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, who was not involved in the research. “That’s fast. I mean, whoa!”
In most cases, however, the tumors have returned, and none of the studies – from the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California; the University of Pennsylvania; and Massachusetts General Hospital – has demonstrated a survival benefit for patients. But researchers think that with some tweaks, they’ll soon be able to accomplish that.
“They clearly made the tumors shrink, so it’s doing something,” Brawley said, “Now, the hard part starts.
“We have a drug that has some activity. We have to figure out how we can maximize that activity,” he said.