-Source-The Wshington Post-
A genetically modified polio virus improved the longer-term survival of patients with a lethal type of brain tumor, according to the results of an early-stage clinical trial published Tuesday.
Twenty-one percent of the patients treated with the virus — all with disease that had recurred — were alive after three years, compared with just 4 percent of those who had undergone standard chemotherapy.
The trial at the Duke Cancer Institute involved patients with glioblastoma, the kind of tumor that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is battling. The results were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Tuesday at an international brain tumor conference in Norway.
Glioblastoma, a difficult-to-treat disease that is the most common of all malignant brain tumors, can cause seizures, headaches, blurred vision and confusion. Even with aggressive treatment, people who are newly diagnosed typically survive less than 20 months, while those with a recurrence usually die within a year. Read more