Transplant Drug Could Boost the Power of Brain-tumor Treatments

Recent research, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School, found that an organ transplant drug called rapamycin could help brain-tumor patients by boosting the effects of new immune-based therapies. In an animal model, researchers showed that by adding rapamycin to an immunotherapy approach strengthened the immune response against brain-tumor cells. The drugs also increased the immune system’s “memory” cells so that they could attack the tumor if it ever reappeared. The research team plans to add rapamycin to clinical gene therapy and immunotherapy trials to improve the treatment of brain tumors. The new findings show that combining rapamycin with a gene-therapy approach enhanced the animals’ abilities to summon immune cells called CD8+ T cells to kill tumors cells directly. Due to this cytotoxic effect, the tumors shrank and the animals lived longer. To read more about this study, click here.