Promising treatment for deadly brain cancer

Health[1] Health[1]Cancer [2]Health [3]Denmark [4]Videnskab.dk [5] A brain cancer that mainly affects children may be slowed by a treatment that is already being tested for a different type of cancer. Doctors are currently helpless to treat a particular type of brain cancer that disproportionately hits children. Only one per cent of people diagnosed with this form of brain cancer survive five years on. But a treatment could be on the way, according to new research. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) may be slowed by a treatment that is already being tested on other forms of cancer. Scientists behind the study are hopeful that clinical trials will start soon. “Hopefully, we’ll start clinical trials next year,” says Kristian Helin, professor and director of the research group BRIC, University of Copenhagen. He is senior author of the new research just published in the journal Nature Medicine [6].