Collaborative discovery pinpoints tumors sensitive to chemotherapy. MGH Brain Tumor Center Study finds first genetic clues to brain tumor treatment.
Collaborative discovery pinpoints tumors sensitive to chemotherapy.
The discovery, described in the Oct. 7 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, has the potential for significantly improving treatment of patients with these tumors. For those who have this genetic pattern, we know that chemotherapy has an excellent chance of shrinking or even eliminating their tumor. And those patients whose tumors would not respond to chemotherapy can avoid the side effects of those powerful drugs. The collaborative study results from the combined expertise of the two research teams. Oligodendrogliomas make up at least 10 percent of malignant gliomas, representing several thousand patients diagnosed in North America each year.