A new three-pronged therapy to treat some of the most aggressive malignant brain tumors is twice as effective than current treatments, researchers from UOW have found.
The therapy, developed by scientists at UOW's Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP) and recently published in journal Physics in Medicine and Biology, combines radiation,
chemotherapy and a radio-sensitising drug in vitro. It has been shown
to more than double tumour cell death compared to a radiation-only
control in high-grade glioma brain tumours.
On average, approximately 1600 brain cancers are diagnosed each year
in Australia; that is roughly one person diagnosed every five hours. "In Australia, the five-year survival rates for brain cancer are low
compared to other cancers. Radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery act
only as palliative treatment options for these patients and we haven't
seen any improvements in treatment in the past 30 years."
Dr Oktaria said her team combined two types of drugs prior to
applying radiation, a radiosensitiser (BrUdR), which makes the tumour
more sensitive to the radiation, and a chemo drug (MTX), which helps to
block the growth of tumor cells after the radiation has been delivered.
"The combination of drugs and radiation enables more radiation dose
to reach the target. This means that a much lower dose, 2.3 times less,
can be used to kill 90 per cent of the tumour cells."
"This is expected to improve local tumour control while reducing
adverse effects caused by the exposure of healthy brain tissue to
radiation, which can impair brain function and cause problems with
memory and speech."
The research, conducted at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research
Institute at UOW and the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, also proved
promising as it uses a conventional x-ray machine, meaning hospitals do
not need to be provided with new equipment to utilize the treatment.
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