A cancer sequencing initiative has discovered mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumors. Early evidence suggests the alterations play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors as well.

New anti-cancer research has led to the development of a novel class of chemical inhibitors that specifically target cancer cells with pluripotency.

Glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer, is one of the most resistant to available therapies and patients typically live approximately 15 months. Previous research has focused on the activation of the apoptosis, or cell death, pathway using therapeutic agents such as tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL); however, the vast majority of these experiments have been stymied by resistance. Researchers have now identified a possible new pathway for targeted therapies.

After people with low-grade glioma, a type of brain cancer, undergo neurosurgery to remove the tumors, they face variable odds of survival — depending largely on how rapidly the cancer recurs. Even though their doctors monitor the tumor closely with sophisticated imaging, it is difficult to determine with certainty whether cancer has returned in a more malignant state that requires aggressive treatment.

Inhibition of cell signaling through the Mer receptor tyrosine kinase pathway shown to both sensitize glioblastoma cells to chemotherapy and decrease their ability to migrate to other, non-targeted areas of the brain.

Scientists report that as the developing larval fruit fly brain grows by cell division, it instructs subperineurial glia (SPG) cells that form the blood-brain barrier to enlarge by creating multiple copies of their genomes in a process known as polyploidization.

Brain cancer cells are especially resistant to chemotherapy -- new research details the mechanism of this resistance and provides a powerful strategy for countering it.

Personalized prognostic tools and gene-based therapies may improve the survival and quality of life of patients suffering from glioblastoma, an aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer, reports a new study.

A national U.S. clinical trial testing the efficacy of a novel brain tumor vaccine has begun. The vaccine will be tested in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive and highest grade malignant glioma.

Lithocholic acid (LCA), naturally produced in the liver during digestion, has been seriously underestimated. A new study shows that LCA can kill several types of cancer cells, such as those found in some brain tumors and breast cancer.

Brain metastasis remains an unconquered challenge in cancer treatment. Pigment epithelium-derived factor suppressed brain damage. Agent is already being studied for macular degeneration.

A small percentage of the deadly brain tumors called glioblastomas, which usually resist treatment with drugs targeting mutations in cell-growth genes, appears to contain extra copies of two or three of these genes at the same time. The surprising discovery has major implications for the understanding of tumor biology – including the evolution of tumor cell populations – and for targeted cancer therapies.

Scientists have tested a combination of radiation treatment and a substance that blocks the transforming growth factor beta for treating glioblastoma. In the mouse model, this combination therapy was found to be more effective in slowing down the growth of such malignant brain tumors and to prolong survival of the animals.

The embryonic enzyme pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) has a well-established role in metabolism and is highly expressed in human cancers. Now, researchers report that PKM2 has important non-metabolic functions in cancer formation.

Researchers have discovered a mechanism by which glioblastoma multiforme, the most common form of brain cancer, promotes the loss of function or death of neurons, a process known as neurodegeneration.

Computational neuroscientists have developed a new system, tested in mouse brain samples, that substantially reduces blood vessel mapping time.

A new fourth-generation oncolytic virus designed to both kill cancer cells and inhibit blood-vessel growth has shown greater effectiveness than earlier versions when tested in animal models. The virus is being developed as a treatment for glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer. The new virus improved survival of mice with transplanted human glioblastoma tumors by 50 percent in a majority of cases compared with the previous-generation oncolytic virus.

Two previously unassociated proteins known to be overly active in a variety of cancers bind together to ignite and sustain malignant brain tumors, a research team reports.

The condition tuberous sclerosis, due to mutation in one of two tumor suppressor genes, TSC1 or TSC2, causes the growth of non-malignant tumors throughout the body and skin. New research shows that the growth of glucose-dependent TSC-related tumors can be restricted by 2-deoxyglucose, which blocks glucose metabolism, but not by restricting dietary carbohydrates.

Subjects with somewhat elevated levels of antibodies produced to fight allergens were less likely to go on to develop brain tumors, according to a new study. The study adds to evidence from prior studies, but some questions still remain.

Tocagen Inc. today announced the publication of data showing the company's investigational treatment for high grade glioma eradicates brain tumors and provides a dramatic survival benefit in mouse models of glioblastoma.

Jim Black is fighting the meanest, most aggressive, most common kind of brain tumor in the United States: recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). In the United States, each year, approximately 10,000 patients are affected by GBM. Now, a novel investigational device - available only at clinical trial sites - is offering new hope to these patients.

By studying tumor cell behavior in a novel "scaffold-free" 3-D system, researchers have determined that the protein Pannexin1 may play an important biomechanical role in binding tissues together, an effect that is lost in cancerous cells.

Glioblastomas grow extremely aggressively into healthy brain tissue and, moreover, are highly resistant to radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Therefore, they are regarded as the most malignant type of brain tumor. Currently available treatment methods are frequently not very effective against this type of cancer. Glioblastoma can affect people of all ages, but is less common in children than in adults.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project provides first evidence linking cancer to mutations in genes involved in DNA organization

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed what they believe to be the first clinical application of a new imaging technique to diagnose brain tumors.

After people with low-grade glioma, a type of brain cancer, undergo neurosurgery to remove the tumors, they face variable odds of survival - depending largely on how rapidly the cancer recurs. Even though their doctors monitor the tumor closely with sophisticated imaging, it is difficult to determine with certainty whether cancer has returned in a more malignant state that requires aggressive treatment.

Taking turns gazing into a surgical microscope, 130 seventh- and eighth-graders from Los Angeles area schools will see a phantom skull and perform virtual surgery - and many could catch a glimpse of the future.

Brain cancer cells are particularly resistant to chemotherapy - toxins enter the cells, but before the toxins can kill, cancer cells quickly pump them back outside. In fact, brain cancer cells are even better than healthy cells at cleaning themselves. This means that when hit with chemotherapy, healthy cells tend to die before brain cancer cells. Especially in the brain, killing healthy cells is bad.

Lixte Biotechnology Holdings announces that the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent for the use of lead compounds from each of two different types of drugs, protein phosphatase inhibitors and histone deacetylase inhibitors, for the potential prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.