Avastin Can Fight Brain Cancer, Study Says

There may be new hope for people with brain cancer. Researchers report that Avastin, a drug which is currently being used to treat lung and colorectal cancers, can also inhibit the growth of gliomas, the most common kind of brain tumor. Used in combination with chemotherapy, Avastin can shrink gliomas and temporarily halt glioma growth. The Avastin study's findings were published in the current issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Avastin, or bevacizumab, is manufactured by Genentech. It is one of a new category of drugs which cut off the blood supply to tumors, causing them to shrink or to grow more slowly.

For the study, 32 patients with stage III or stage IV brain cancer were given Avastin as well as irinotecan, a commonly used chemotherapy drug. The combination of the two drugs shrank or inhibited the growth of gliomas in almost all of the subjects. Gliomas shrank by 50 percent or more in 63 percent of subjects; they stopped growing for 6 months or longer in 38 percent of subjects. Typically, chemotherapy alone inhibits the growth of gliomas for only 6 weeks to 3 months.

"These results are exciting because of the possible implications for a patient population that currently has the poorest prognosis going into treatment - those with malignant brain tumors that have recurred after initial treatment, " said Dr. James Vredenburgh of Duke University. Dr. Vredenburgh was the lead author of the Avastin study.

According to the American Cancer Society, glioma is a general category of brain tumor which includes astrocytomas, oligodengrogliomas, and ependymomas. Approximately 42 percent of all brain tumors and 77 percent of malignant brain tumors are gliomas. Gliomas are rare in children; the risk for developing gliomas rises along with age. They are most common in people aged 75 to 84. Approximately 18,000 Americans are diagnosed with gliomas each year.