In The News...

 

  • In August, UVA opened a new clinical phase 2 clinical trial for patients with recurrent glioblastoma, testing a monoclonal antibody (AMG 102) against Hepatocyte Growth Factor. UVA is one of six sites nationally participating in this innovative trial.

 

  • Very promising results of the phase 2 study of bevacizumab (Avastin) and irinotecan conducted at UVA and 9 other leading brain tumor centers were presented at the Society for Neuro-Oncology meeting in November.  For additional information see this link.

 

  • In February 2008 UVA opened a phase 2 clinical trial of the novel angiogenesis inhibitor CT-322 (AngioceptTM) with and without irinotecan for recurrent glioblastoma.  UVA is one of approximately eight brain tumor centers testing this anti-VEGF strategy.

 

  • The phase 2 clinical trial of temsirolimus and sorafenib for recurrent glioblastoma, NCCTG N0572, has opened to enrollment at UVA, Mayo Clinic, and the North Central Cancer Treatment Group.  This is one of the first study to target two separate key signaling pathways in glioblastoma cells.  Dr. David Schiff is the study chair.

 

  • Edward Oldfield, MD, chief of the Clinical Neurosurgery Department in the Surgical Neurology Branch at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at NIH , has accepted a faculty position as Professor of Neurological Surgery at UVA. He is an international leader in research into the biology of and drug delivery to malignant gliomas as well as the surgical management of pituitary tumors.

 

  • Dr. Roger Abounader's laboratory found that PTEN, normally thought to be a tumor suppressor gene, actually can promote tumor development in the setting of certain p53 gene mutations.  This provocative result is slated for publication in Cancer Research.

 

  • James Mandell, MD, PhD, (Neuropathology) and Jason Papin, PhD (Biomedical Engineering) received funding through a UVA-Coulter Foundation Translational Research Award for a collaborative project focused on computational analysis of intracellular signaling networks in glioblastomas. They will work with David Schiff, MD (Neuro-Oncology) to eventually develop a panel of laboratory assays to better classify glioblastoma according to the intracellular signaling abnormalities that they have acquired, leading to individualized patient chemotherapeutic treatments.

 

  • Benjamin Purow, MD, is a neuro-oncologist who joined the UVA team in November '06 after training at the National Institutes of Health. He treats brain tumor patients in the clinic and also runs a laboratory focused on developing new treatments for patients with glioma, with an emphasis on the Notch pathway and microRNAs. Since arriving at UVA, Dr. Purow has been the recipient of an American Cancer Society IRG grant for his project, "Investigation of FKBP38 as a Novel Therapeutic Target in Glioma."

 

  • Isa Hussaini, PhD and members of his laboratory have had their research on the intracellular pathways that control astrocytoma invasion published in the November 1st edition of Cancer Research.

 

  • Dr. David Schiff and colleagues' article "Outcome in Low-Grade Glioma: The Impact of Prognostic Factors and Treatment" was highlighted in the September 24 issue of Neurology (and was the subject of an American Academy of Neurology podcast). The National Cancer Institute recently approved Dr. Schiff's clinical trial testing the potential benefits of combining temozolomide with radiotherapy to move forward.

 

  • Several physicians from the UVA Neuro-Oncology Center were recently named to the list of Best Doctors in America by Best Doctors, Inc., including neurosurgeons Mark Shaffrey, John Jane Sr., Jeffrey Elias, John Jane Jr., and Vinko Dolenc, as well as medical neuro-oncologist David Schiff.