Researchers from the Clínica Universidad de Navarra have opened a way to treat the diffuse intrinsic trunk gliomathe deadliest brain tumor in children.
The results of this clinical trial, which have been published this Thursday in the scientific journal, show that the procedure carried out is “safe” and “doable”.
As explained by the doctor Jaime Gallegoa specialist in the Neurology Department of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and coordinator of its Brain Tumor Area, “it is an aggressive tumor, with a still bleak prognosis.”
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“Diffuse intrinsic glioma of the brain stem is a glioma that infiltrates the brain stem and, therefore, affects vital structures of the central nervous system, causing severe neurological manifestations”.
It is a tumor that develops in a vital part of the human being and generally occurs in children between 5 and 10 years of age. Currently, there is no curative treatment for this disease and the only option is radiotherapy.
The symptoms of diffuse intrinsic trunk glioma are very characteristic:
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Alterations in the movement of the face.
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Problems walking and swallowing.
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Lack of strength in both arms and legs.
Currently, the treatment is based on radiotherapy, although half of the children who receive it do not survive more than a year
As the specialist specifies, half of the children who receive the only treatment available today “do not survive more than a year.”
This new therapy consists of injecting into the tumor a oncolytic virusa type of virus that mainly causes colds in the population, which has been developed in the laboratory of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (United States).
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“This case shows the importance of clinical trials and the value of illuminating new treatment pathways for those serious diseases that still have no cure”, emphasizes Dr. Gállego.
Trial on twelve children
The test has been carried out on twelve children diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic glioma of the trunk, both from Spain and from other European countries. A small sample but, without a doubt, it is a hope for the future of this disease.
Through this oncolytic virus, genetically modified so that it can only infect, replicate and selectively kill tumor cellsit has been possible for patients to have a higher survival rate than is the case today.
But not only has an increase in life expectancy been achieved. The oncolytic virus also exerts another additional antitumor effect, enhancing the action of the patient’s own immune system against the tumor.
In addition, as emphasized by Dr. Martha Alonsoit has been possible to “analyze the tumor and its microenvironment before treatment, and they have been able to verify the changes produced and the anti-tumor immune response triggered after the administration of the virus.”
How does the oncolytic virus work?
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The virus infects the tumor cell that has produced the disease.
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It replicates only in tumor cells until its destruction.
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Shed viruses can continue to infect tumor cells.
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Signals are released from the infected tumor cell that awaken the immune system.
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The immune system detects the tumor cells and eliminates them.