Purdue University researchers are developing and validating a patent-pending treatment for incurable glioblastoma brain tumors. Glioblastomas are almost always lethal with a median survival time of 14 months. Traditional methods used against other cancers, like chemotherapy and immunotherapy, are often ineffective on glioblastoma.
"Our preclinical studies showed these immune cells to be particularly remarkable in targeting and completely eliminating the growth of the tumors," Matosevic said."We found that we can engineer these cells at doses suitable for clinical use in humans. This is significant because one of the major hurdles to clinical translation of cell-based therapies to humans has been the poor expansion and lack of potency of cells that were sourced directly from patients.
"We are working with neurosurgical clinician collaborators to not only obtain funding, but also initiate clinical protocols," he added."We are also open to and always seeking new collaborations and partnerships with those who have interest in supporting our mission to translate this therapy to the clinic, where it is needed the most."