By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Reporter
Brain cancer is seen by the medical community as a death
sentence, but a $3 million grant to UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer
Center may change the way the disease is treated.
After nearly six years of anticipation, the National Cancer
Institute awarded the funds to the center yesterday, for the
research of genetic profiles of brain tumors.
“The ultimate result of this research would be finding new
ways to diagnose and treat tumors early,” said Stanley
Nelson, associate professor in human genetics.
Of the 16,500 patients in the United States who will be
diagnosed with brain cancer this year, 80 percent will die,
according to officials at the center.
There are a number of different treatments available, but so far
doctors are unable to pinpoint which medication would best suit
individual patients.
“We have to guess right now; we don’t know which
treatment will work on a particular patient,” said Timothy
Cloughesy, director of the neuro-oncology program. “Brain
cancer patients are always battling against time.”
“We are very hopeful this will have a major impact on
survival with patients,” said Judith Gasson, director of the
UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center.
Brain cancer is one of the deadliest diseases, usually
inflicting patients in their 30s and 40s. Those diagnosed with
brain cancer are treated with different types of chemotherapy on a
trial-and-error basis.
“Right now, patients are able to survive one year or less
after diagnosis, and it’s those patients we’d like to
target,” Gasson said.
The cancer causes the body to lose control of speech and
strength and eventually destroys the brain.
Researchers plan to use the funds to study genetic profiles of
brain tumors, which will lead to more efficient methods of treating
and diagnosing cancer.
Gasson said the university is the first to initiate this kind of
research for brain cancer and expects a worldwide impact in the
near future.
“This is a pretty sizable grant to do some initial
work,” Nelson said.
Nelson said the center has been working with gene profiling for
a year and the award will significantly expand the amount of
research.
Through genetic profiling, scientists can find certain genes
that lead to cancer, using markers that attach to genes of
interest.
Nelson said researchers may soon receive a more thorough picture
of genetic mutations that ultimately lead to brain tumors.
“With the use of this technique, we can eventually
determine which method of chemotherapy would be the best in
treating a particular patient,” Nelson said.
Treatments for brain cancer are currently available
intravenously, orally or through radiation.
He said he expects there are hundreds of these mutations out
there and said that only about a dozen have been isolated already.
The funds will allow researchers to analyze cancerous tumors they
have been collecting.
“We have been backlogging tumors for the past six years in
anticipation of this,” Cloughesy said.
With this collection of tumors, accurate records of chemotherapy
from previous patients, and research with genetic profiling,
scientists will be able to correlate which treatment will best suit
a tumor based on its genetic makeup.
“There is a limited arsenal of drugs available,” he
added. “This is extremely exciting and we are ready to move
forward.”