Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that a small protein called hsFlt3L delivered via a genetically engineered virus increased the number of immune cells in the brain and significantly slowed tumor growth, increasing the survival of laboratory rats in pre-clinical studies. The study, published in the December issue of the journal, Molecular Therapy, may lead to a new way to treat patients with GBM.
"Importantly, our study is the first to show that GBM tumors shrank or were completely eliminated in lab rats, which is likely due to the ability of the protein, hsFlt3L to stimulate the production of fully mature immune cells within the brain," said Maria Castro, Ph.D., co-director of the Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the senior author of the study. "Since gene therapy has given us the tool to deliver this protein, our hope is to translate these laboratory studies into clinical trials in patients with GBM."
GBM tumors develop in the supportive tissue of the brain and grow quickly, often becoming very large before a person experiences symptoms and is diagnosed. Surgery is typically performed to remove as much of the tumor as possible and followed with radiation and/or chemotherapy to slow progression of the disease. But despite aggressive treatment, the tumor recurs and patients usually die within a year's time.
Because GBM is so aggressive, the disease has been the target of a number of laboratory studies and clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of gene therapy to deliver novel th
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Contact: Kelli Hanley
kelli.hanley@cshs.org
310-423-3674
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
6-Dec-2004