New hope for brain cancer sufferers

Scientists have revealed that a new study has made a major breakthrough in the treatment of the aggressive brain cancer Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM).

According to the researchers QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, most of the study participants lived much longer than the six-month prognosis normally given to a patient with recurrent GBM, and some patients showed no signs of disease progression.

The study found that many brain tumours carry cytomegalovirus (CMV) and the researchers have developed a technique to modify the patients' T-cells in the laboratory, effectively "train" them to attack the virus, and then return them to the patient's body, and when the killer T-cells destroyed the virus, they also destroyed the cancer.

Professor Rajiv Khanna said that if this treatment can buy patients more time, then that is a big step forward.

The study was published in the US journal Cancer Research.