Mar. 10, 2005. 01:00 AM

Drug boosts brain tumour treatment
Discovery `a huge relief'

`The first advance in 30 years'


SHERYL UBELACKER
CANADIAN PRESS

A drug that disrupts DNA to stop cancer cells from multiplying can
prolong the lives of some people with the most common and deadliest type
of brain tumour, a study by Canadian and European researchers has found.

While not a cure, the drug temozolomide marks the first advance in
treating glioblastoma in three decades.

"We have a new standard of care, a new standard treatment," said Dr.
Greg Cairncross, a brain tumour specialist at the University of Calgary
who led the Canadian arm of the study.

The study, appearing today in the New England Journal of Medicine,
involved 573 adults with glioblastoma across Canada and in 12 European
countries. Researchers compared patients treated with radiation and
temozolomide to those who received radiation alone. Most had already had
surgery.

After two years, 26 per cent of patients on the drug-radiation
combination were still alive, compared to 10 per cent for radiation
alone.

The average survival rate was almost 15 months for those on temozolomide
versus 12 months.

"For the first time, we've shown that a chemotherapy, when used at
diagnosis, can improve survival," said co-author Dr. Warren Mason, a
neuro-oncologist at Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital who called it
the "first advance in 30 years" in managing the disease.


More than 1,100 Canadians are diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme
each year; Most die within nine to 12 months of diagnosis.

The octopus-like tumour can arise anywhere in the brain, insidiously
sending its tentacles to infiltrate brain tissue.

That means surgery can never fully eradicate the tumour, as is the case
in some other types of cancer.

While a small percentage of patients are genetically predisposed to
develop glioblastomas, most occur "sporadically," with no known
underlying cause, say doctors, speculating that the culprit may be some
environmental agent.

Dr. Michael Wosnick of the Canadian Cancer Society praised the study
findings.

"To be able to treat at least 30 per cent of glioblastoma patients with
a straightforward, well-tolerated treatment that significantly improves
their life-expectancy is a huge advance that should change clinical
practice overnight," Wosnick said.

For physicians who have long dealt with this bad-news disease, the
study's results come with a huge sense of relief.

"It's so difficult to treat and it's such a tragic illness," said
Cairncross.

"I'm very pleased after many years of slugging away at the problem to
see a genuine improvement."