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Injecting a modified version of the polio vaccine directly into a deadly brain tumor could help cancer patients live years longer than they normally would, doctors said Tuesday.
Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine tested 61 patients with aggressive brain tumors over five years — and 21 percent were still alive six years later, compared with just 4 percent of those who underwent standard chemotherapy.
“I’ve been doing this for 50 years and I’ve never seen results like this,” Dr. Darell Bigner, of the Duke Cancer Institute, who is helping develop the treatment, told NPR.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved patients in whom the disease had recurred and who had glioblastomas — the kind of tumor that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is battling.
Glioblastomas are the most common of all malignant brain tumors and can cause seizures, blurred vision, headaches and confusion.
People diagnosed with them typically survive less than 20 months, while those with a recurrence usually die within a year.
Researchers at Duke used a genetically modified version of the polio virus because of its ability to infect nervous system cells — and injected it directly through a hole in the skull.
The virus appears to be able to trigger the patient’s own immune system cells to attack the tumors, researchers said.
While the results seem sunny, experts warned that more research is needed to improve the treatment’s effectiveness.
“We have to be careful,” said Annick Desjardins, a Duke neuro-oncologist who helped conduct the study. “But we have long-term survivors. We are seeing something we don’t normally see with patients with glioblastoma.”
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