Latest Brain Tumor Celebrity: Gord Downie

I often re-post articles about celebrities because:

• I sense that knowing a celebrity with a brain tumor somehow helps brain tumor victims feel like they aren’t the only ones fighting this wicked disease.
• It draws attention to the need for a cure among the celebrities’ following which almost always expands beyond the brain tumor community of victims, survivors, doctors and the like.
• It humanizes the impact of brain cancers.

So Today I ran across an article about Gord Downie from the Canadian Press who reports that “Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip begins what is being billed as its final tour after lead singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with a deadly brain cancer.”

If you are a Gord Downie fan, you may want to read about Glioblastoma (GBM) which is the brain tumor disease the article reports that he has. :-(

Here’s a link: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/07/22/gord-downie-brain-cancer_n_11136234.html  

Crossing the blood-brain barrier to better combat brain cancer

Here’s some potentially good news from Ryan Cross who wrote about Alexandre Carpentier (pictured above), a neurosurgeon at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, who used “ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, the most common and deadly tumor originating in the adult brain—allowing for delivery of chemotherapy that would otherwise reach the tumor in minuscule amounts” - https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601691/ultrasound-opens-the-brain-to-promising-drugs/

As background, you should know that the protective sheath surrounding the brain’s blood supply—known as the blood-brain barrier—is a safeguard against nasty germs and toxins. But it also prevents existing drugs that could potentially be used to treat brain cancer or Alzheimer’s disease from reaching the brain.

According to Cross, “the procedure works by first injecting microbubbles into the bloodstream and then using a device implanted near patients’ tumors to send ultrasonic soundwaves into the brain, exciting the bubbles. The physical pressure of the bubbles pushing on the cells temporarily opens the blood-brain barrier, letting an injected drug cross into the brain.”

Here’s a link to the abstract: http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/8/343/343re2

Picture: Alexandre Carpentier holds the SonoCloud device, which he has implanted in 15 brain cancer patients.

Latest GBM Insight: Immune Genes Identified that Affect How Long Victims May Live

The lead sentence from an article written by Robert Preidt says it best “Researchers have identified immune genes that may affect how long people live after diagnosis with a common type of brain cancer.” See https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_159031.html

He goes on to quote study auther study author Dr. Anhua Wu, of First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, China  who said "We've had luck with other types of cancer in removing the brakes on the immune system to allow it to fight the tumors, but this has not been the case with glioblastoma".

My scatological reaction is “no shit.”

Yet, it’s an important step that no one else has taken.

Preidt goes on to note that “If confirmed in other studies, the researchers say their findings could lead to improved treatment in the future.”

Here’s another important insight from Preidt’s article that, one hopes, identifies a tipping point: “Dr. Rifaat Bashir, a retired neurologist in Reston, Va., wrote an editorial accompanying the study. ‘The looming question in brain cancer research today is whether the launch of immunotherapy will help control an uncontrollable disease,’ Bashir said in the journal news release.”

"While this study does not answer this question, it brings us one step closer to believing that one day we will be able to exploit the immune system to better treat glioblastoma," Bashir noted.

The report was published online May 25 in the journal Neurology - http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2016/05/25/WNL.0000000000002770.short?sid=9afcf6d4-b9f2-4f7f-b9dc-2dcf638cb84d


PS - According to the stock photo site from which I purchased this 3D animation the keywords describing this visual include brain, cancer, cancer cell, dead body, illness, and somewhat surprising to me ""beauty and health" 

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_vitanovski'>vitanovski / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Killing GBM with Polio: 60 Minutes Episode Labeled “Breakthrough Status”

All you brain tumor victims, caregivers and victim friends and relatives should know that:

“On May 15, CBS 60 Minutes reported that a polio virus vaccine received breakthrough status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because of promising results in early studies conducted at Duke University. In an almost 40-minute newscast, CBS 60 Minutes shares perspectives from the researchers, and stories from patients and caregivers that highlighted their experience on the trial.”

“Breakthrough Status” is not lightly given by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented for a brain tumor therapy.

If you have a loved one suffering from Glioblastoma, watch this episode: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-fda-breakthrough-status-duke-university-cancer-therapy/

This is the second time I’m writing about this therapy.  I am compelled to write about it because a dear college friend of my wife and mine has just been diagnosed with GBM. GBM is a horrific, relentless, terrifying disease that strikes down wonderful people, fabulous people, important people indiscriminately and ruthlessly.

Historically, GBM victims have had almost no hope at all. Now, for the first time, there seems to be a path available to some victims. 

I cannot write anymore today, because if I do, I will start weeping and screaming and thrashing about like somebody or something is tearing my soul in two.

John

PS – In addition to providing a link to the episode, the segment’s script is also posted.

PPS – On this 60 Minute segment Scott Pelley is the correspondent. Denise Schrier Cetta and Michael Radutzky, are producers.