An experimental therapy is helping some patients survive the deadliest brain tumors.
When Mary Lee was diagnosed with glioblastoma ten years ago, doctors gave her three months to live. Surgeons removed a golf ball sized tumor from her brain.
After radiation and chemotherapy she was given an experimental vaccine. The immune based therapy is tailor-made to fight the patient’s cancer, attacking the microscopic cells that chemotherapy and radiation leave behind.
Dr. Keith Black a neurologist with cedars-Sinai Medical Center, conducted the study. He said,”It’s a way to teach the body’s immune system how to recognize cancer cells and go directly to the cancer to try to kill those cells and eradicate the tumor.”
Sixteen patients received 3 rounds of the vaccine. Nearly 40 percent survived more than 8 years.
Dr. Black said typically fewer than 3 percent of glioblastoma patients live more than 5 years. Mary is still in remission almost 10 years after treatment.
