He then had one of the researchers show how it caused a breast tumor from a mouse to shrink. It will be important to distinguish which patients benefited from the treatment and why, Lassman said. Several companies and academic groups are testing a variety of engineered viruses to fight cancer, including herpes, vaccinia (cowpox) and adenovirus. The Brain Tumor Center has received hundreds of calls and more than 200 online inquiries. duke.edu By the 1950s, scientists understood that some viruses have a unique ability to invade just about any cell in the body and kill it. Opens in a new tab or window, Visit us on LinkedIn. All rights reserved. Anchor Scott Pelley reports on the promising experimental treatment which aired on Sunday, March 29. Duke Cancer Center Brain Tumor Clinic This is usually a devastating diagnosis: Median survival is little more than 14 months and two-year survival is just 30%, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. I don't think the program made clear that the work in prostate, breast, and pancreatic cancer, among others, was still in the experimental phase. Jacksonville, Florida, resident Oren Margol loved nothing more than getting out with his buddies for a game of golf. backing the project and expects to file for FDA approval by 2016. Friedman is a fierce advocate of every facet of Duke and has contributed immensely to the brain cancer treatment internationally. March 29, 2015 / 6:38 PM You may opt-out by. You may opt-out by. The aggressivenessof the bug is not whats important here, but rather how amenable it is to the genetic engineering required to make it useful as a cancer drug. Substitute teacher and cancer survivor Tim McKenna, was teaching history at the Durham School of the Arts when a gas explosion ripped through downtown Durham. Two of the 3 fellows selected to receive Duke CTSA TL1 Post-Doctoral Training Program Award this month are engaged in cancer-related research. Bob Tisch was the brother of the late LarryTisch, CEO of the CBS network from 1986 to 1995. This two-part difference between cancer cells and normal cells is the basis for trying to treat human glioblastomas by directly infusing very small amounts into the tumor through a one millimeter diameter catheter that's inserted into the tumor through the skull, guided by 3-D imaging. Searching For & Finding Cancers' Achilles Heels, Yan Receives International Prize for Translational Neuroscience, WATCH RECORDING: How Studying Genes Can Lead to More Personalized Cancer Care, Two of Three CTSA TL1 Post-Doc Training Program Awards Go to 2 Cancer Scientists, Recurrent GBM Brain Tumors with Few Mutations Respond Best to Immunotherapy, New Finding: Efficacy of Osimertinib in Glioblastoma, #MDCS: Mother Creates Meaning From Mourning, Florida Golf Tournament Raises $50,000 For Brain Tumor Research, Charging the Bull: Brain Tumor Survivor Never Surrenders, Newly Identified Genetic Markers Classify Previously Undetermined GBM Tumors, Dukes Poliovirus Therapy Wins Breakthrough Status, Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma Well Tolerated; Survival Gains Observed, Poliovirus Therapy for Recurrent Glioblastoma Has Three-Year Survival Rate of 21 Percent, Duke Team Finds Missing Immune Cells That Could Fight Lethal Brain Tumors, Tumor-Seeking Salmonella Treats Brain Tumors, Duke Cancer Center Cary Radiation Oncology, Duke Regional Hospital Colorectal Surgery, DCI Center for Prostate & Urologic Cancers, Office of Cancer Research Career Development (OCRCD), Duke Supportive Care & Survivorship Center. Gerald Grant, MD, returns to Duke from Stanford University, where he's an endowed professor and chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery. Mechanism Identified for Drug Resistance in Glioblastoma Brain Tumors, Reitman Awarded NCI K08 Career Development Award, Brain Tumor Study Highlights Differences Among Hispanics. Lipscomb became the first volunteer for Duke University's experiment with the polio virus. The researchers, who are supported by grant money and philanthropic donations, are planning a Phase II/III trial in glioblastoma, and they are interested in exploring the therapy in other tumor types, including pancreas, prostate, and lung cancer. For information about COVID-19 testing and care, vaccination, and visitor guidelines at Duke please visit www.dukehealth.org. The program was careful to note that the effectiveness of the virus in threeof the study volunteersinterviewed was offset by an equal number of patients who are no longer alive. The long war on cancer has left us well short of victory. "You know, they whisper about a 'cure' but doctors just can't use words like that with patients, especially at such an early stage," says Radutzky. But turning that ability into cancer treatments was challenging: Either the virus-based drugs were too weak to wage effective attacks against tumors, or they were so powerful they prompted dangerous immune responses in patients. That's partly true, but partly nonsense. So for them to both say that the recombinant poliovirus approach was the most promising agent they've seen for glioblastoma in their careers, it's hard not to be excited. "If my father was alive to see this 60 Minutes story, he would find it hard to believe because it is such a powerful cancer that is unstoppable," Fager says. No wonder correspondent Scott Pelley and more than a few doctors and patients were throwing around the word cure during the piece. While considered a single ethnic group, the differences found in the occurrence and outcomes of glioma brain tumor patients suggests important diversity. Scott Pelleys report was featured on 60 Minutes, Sunday, May 15, onthe CBS television network. Its far from a miraclestudies show that it works best in a small subset of patients who are in Stage III of the disease, but overall it improves survival by only a few monthswhich is likely why the FDA declined to fast-track the drug to market last year. Three years after the infusion, something unimaginable had happened. Most people remember polio as the scourge that paralyzed millions of children until a vaccine was developed in the 1950s. Durham, NC 27710, medschool.duke.edu glioblastoma | Duke Cancer Institute The authors, including corresponding author Madan Kwatra, MD, report that osimertinib inhibits the constitutive activity of EGFRv III tyrosine kinase with high potency. A bold experiment to kill a vicious form of brain cancer has been granted breakthrough status by the Food and Drug Administration. Kristen Batich, MD, PhD, a Duke Neurosurgery postdoctoral fellow in the Sampson Lab, will research anti-tumor immunity in brain tumors. Alternatively, they might not have wanted to cloud the story with this two-steps-removed association with the Duke Brain Tumor Center. March 25, 2021 DCI Research Recurrent GBM Brain Tumors with Few Mutations Respond Best to Immunotherapy The finding from a genetic analysis of tumors treated with Duke's poliovirus therapy suggests a predictive biomarker for survival. She had just cycled 1,100-mile in memory of her boyfriend Owen Strong who passed away from glioblastoma in Jan. 2020. And even when the clinically-qualified batches of virus were made, the FDA required seven more years of safety testing, up to and including administration to three dozen monkeys, before the first human subject was permitted in 2011. In any case and for whatever reason, the omission was glaring. "Particularly, preliminary clinical data in glioblastoma is quite exciting suggesting that the systemic administration of PD-1 blocking antibodies may have significant benefits for these patients," he said. 1. We all hope our lives will countthat in some way we will make an indelible mark within our circles, our society and, perhaps, even beyond. Neuro-oncologist and team member Henry Friedman, MD, reported an increase in median survival of over 6 months. In one trial, 16% of patients who got the experimental treatment saw their tumors shrink for at least six months, compared to 2% of patients in the control group. 2. It's impressive enough on its own. Join us! Gliomas including glioblastoma are among the toughest cancers to beat. Tremendous strides have been made within many cancers, from childhood leukemia cures to cancer survivors who are counting decades since their treatment. GBM patients have an extremely poor prognosis, and none of the current treatments (including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy) have been able to extend median . Last night, CBS ' hit newsmagazine 60 Minutes devoted not one but two segments to an early-stage trial at Duke University of a cancer therapy that some patients are calling a "miracle.". Polio to treat cancer? Scott Pelley reports on Duke clinical trial Biden is now leading the governments cancer moonshot initiative, and as part of that he visited Duke, where he met the first patient treated with the virus, Stephanie Lipscomb, who entered the trial in 2012 and is still cancer-free. This OHE-hosted talk featured director of the Patierno/George/Freedman Lab Jennifer Freedman, PhD, and postdocs Tyler Allen, PhD, and Sean Piwarski, PhD. Patients clamor for Duke cancer trial after 60 Minutes report(WRAL), Brain Tumor Center Featured On '60 Minutes', Duke Cancer Center Cary Radiation Oncology, Duke Regional Hospital Colorectal Surgery, DCI Center for Prostate & Urologic Cancers, Office of Cancer Research Career Development (OCRCD), Duke Supportive Care & Survivorship Center, Patients clamor for Duke cancer trial after 60 Minutes report. Whats the business model here? Please enter valid email address to continue. "Similarly, there are immune-checkpoint blocking antibodies approaching FDA approval in bladder and renal cancers. Run, walk, bike, or crawl a 5K and/or 1-miler. The University of Pennsylvania is working on a treatment that involves removing the white blood cells from cancer patients, using a modified HIV virus to re-engineer them, then infusing them back into the body, where they proceed to attack cancer cells. This new status from the FDA will fast-track the promising treatment so hundreds ofcancer patients can access it in clinical trials at about 40 separate institutions in the U.S. and around the world. I encourage you to watch both parts of the 60 Minutes story. Oncolytics Biotech Team DCI "virtual" and in-person riders raised more than $20K. The Duke Brain Tumor Center, originally established in 1937, was renamed the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center after the Tisch family donated $10 million for research at the Brain Tumor Center and the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. 1. The breakthrough status for Duke is good news, to be sure. Amgen The finding from a genetic analysis of tumors treated with Dukes poliovirus therapy suggests a predictive biomarker for survival. Opens in a new tab or window, Share on Twitter. The emotional power of the two people who are in remission, particularly the first recipient, Stephanie Lipscomb, was so positively overwhelming that I don't think the risks were fully balanced by the story of another patient who did not do well and withdrew from the study. Every spring, come rain or come shine, patients, survivors, caregivers, loved ones, and Duke faculty and staff gather at the Angels Among Us 5K and Wa Dina Randazzo, DO, was 13 when she was told that her father had less than three months to live. "One of the scientists told me it takes a killer to kill a killer," says Michael Radutzky, one of the 60 Minutes producers behind the story. And he says reporting on cancer is often very personal for the reporter. A special section on adults ages 20 to 49 shows higher cancer incidence and mortality for women than men. The rigor with which the safety of this approach is being evaluated is remarkable. Hai Yan, MD, PhD, was awarded the International Prize for Translational Neuroscience for identifying genetic mutations linked to gliomas. Seeing as the polio virushas not even moved into late-stage testing in people with glioblastoma, it seems premature to start declaring the treatmentto be acure-all for so many cancers based on some experiments in test tubes and mice. Gromeier is associate professor of Surgery (Neurosurgery) and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. The development of engineered viruses, or oncolytic viruses, to treat cancer is one type of immunotherapy thats generating excitement in oncology circles. Opens in a new tab or window, "60 Minutes" report that aired Sunday evening, Standard of care for newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Behind every team photo and supportive hug at the annual Angels Among Us 5K and family fun run are stories of personal struggle and hope, love and new No one would say its a good thing to be diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor at age 30. The approach was nonspecific, frequently unsuccessful, and had a toxic side effect profile. Towards the end of the two-segment 60 Minutes feature, correspondent Scott Pelley told viewers that in the laboratory the engineered polio virus killed cancers of the skin, lung, stomach and more. 3. 4. DCI researchers use the modified polio virus to spur natural immune attack against tumors in animal studies. FDA GRANTS BREAKTHROUGH STATUS TO DUKE UNIVERSITY CANCER TREATMENTDOCUMENTED BY 60 MINUTES. The segment highlighted an approach being tested by researchers at Duke University involving an engineered poliovirus that is aimed at inducing an immune attack on glioblastoma tumor cells. For information about COVID-19 testing and care, vaccination, and visitor guidelines at Duke please visit www.dukehealth.org. Gromeier re-engineered the virus, removing a key genetic sequence. These approaches are also being evaluated in many other cancers with significant early success nearly across the board.". The way that cancer cells make proteins is different from that of normal cells. The 60 Minutes update introduced viewers to Brendan Steele, another participant in the Duke trials who went into remission after being treated with the modified polio virus. The CBS News program 60 Minutes follows brain cancer patients in a Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center clinical trial of a therapy that uses a re-engineered polio virus to kill cancer cells. It appears the polio starts the killing, but the immune system does most of the damage. 60 Minutes - Newsmakers Breakthrough Status By Scott Pelley May 15, 2016 / 7:16 PM / CBS News Editor's Note: For more information on the Duke University polio trial or other brain cancer. The FDA has approved drugs to treat a number of cancers, including prostate cancer, advanced melanoma, acute lymphocytic leukemia, head and neck cancer, and glioblastoma. Moreover, I admire him most for his establishment of a program (with neurosurgery colleague, Allan Friedman, MD not related) for Duke's women athletes who wish to pursue medical school and his strong support of Duke women's basketball. The drug didnt hit the trials endpoint for overall survival. (Credit: Shutterstock), But Amgen is still investigating Imlygic in different settings, which brings us to our next point. 047 Baker House, Trent Drive The idea of using viruses as weapons against cancer isnt new. GBM is among the most aggressive and common primary brain tumors in adults. "Everybody knows someone who has cancer," Radutzky tells Ann Silvio of 60 Minutes Overtime (in the above video player). Thats an open question, though its certainly not the first time its been asked in oncology. Here are some caveats to keep in mind as this therapy makes its way through the development process. "We should do another version in the fall. But othersthe Duke treatment, for exampleare designed to work with just one dose. Surely anything that makes a glioblastoma melt away is worth some attention. 7. . First patient to undergo poliovirus therapy for GBM dies eight years