A British man could be the first person in the world to be
cured of a deadly type of
brain cancer by an experimental new therapy.
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The father-of-two was told he may have only months to live,
but a year on, his tumor has disappeared and his recovery has been hailed by
doctors as “extraordinary”.
He is one of 10 patients with advanced glioblastoma brain
cancer on a new combination treatment which is in early trial stages.
Preliminary findings suggest the drugs work well on
glioblastoma patients who also have a particular genetic defect. Further
research will be needed, but experts believe the treatment could represent one
of the biggest breakthroughs in years in treating one of the most aggressive
and deadly cancers.
Juanita Lopez, oncologist at
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and study author said: “This is an extraordinary case
considering how early on in the study we are. We believe our findings open the
door to the further development of what could become a game-changing treatment
for some brain tumor patients.”
Glioblastoma is the most common form of brain tumor in the
UK, with more than 2,000 cases diagnosed every year. It has a notoriously poor
prognosis. Patients usually only live for 14 months after diagnosis, making it
one of the most deadly cancers.
This is partly to do with the speed the cancer spreads, but
it is also due to a lack of treatments able to successfully combat it. While
many glioblastoma patients will undergo surgery to remove the cancer, it almost
always returns.
Now, researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research and The
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust believe they may have stumbled on a
breakthrough. The new treatment is a combination of drugs atezolizumab and
ipatasertib, which help the immune system spot and destroy the cancer.
Crucially, scientists have found a link between the two patients on the trial
who responded well. Both have tumors with a faulty gene called PTEN, found
throughout the body and known as an “anti-tumor” gene because it stops cells
over-multiplying. Cancers often develop when defects in the body cause the PTEN
gene to switch off. About a quarter of all glioblastoma patients have a faulty
PTEN gene.
Lopez says she hopes the findings will spark excitement in
the cancer community. “These are still really early days in the research
process and the next step is a larger trial. We’re looking to recruit more
patients with advanced glioblastoma to take part and we need more funding. It’s
possible we could be looking at a major step forward.”
Patient Hamish Mykura, 59, a TV producer from West Sussex,
says he believed 2020 would be his last until scans revealed his brain cancer
had all but vanished. “The doctors are cautious but there’s a possibility I may
be the first person to be cured of glioblastoma using drugs.”
Hamish was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2018. He said: “I
was on the train to the airport when I couldn’t remember where I was going or
how to work my mobile phone. My brain completely went.”
A hospital scan showed Hamish had a cancerous lump in his
left temporal lobe, and soon after he underwent an awake brain surgery to
remove the tumor. “The surgery was successful and they removed most of the
cancer, but within a year it began to return, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy
weren’t halting it. I felt I was a goner.”
Hamish joined nine other patients with advanced brain cancer
on the experimental drug combo at the Royal Marsden. Every three weeks he went
into hospital to be given atezolizumab intravenously. At the same time, he was
taking two pills of ipatasertib every day. He said: “At first, scans appeared
to show the cancer was still growing and I had to go in for another surgery.”
But when the surgeons operated on Hamish, they were shocked
to find the growth they had seen on the scan was not cancerous. He says: “It
was all benign tissue which had grown due to inflammation.”
Hamish’s condition improved rapidly. Scans showed the cancer
was shrinking and his speech and general thinking improved.
Lopez said: “The fact these two cases had strong responses
may help us focus further research and help us tackle this terrible cancer.”
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