Researchers in China have just shed new light on the fight against glioblastoma – the aggressive form of brain cancer The Tragically Hip frontman .
Published Wednesday in , the medical journal American Academy of Neurology, the study identifies a group of immune system genes that may influence how long people live after developing the cancer, potentially leading the way for doctors hoping to use the body’s own immune system to fight the deadly disease.
In the study, researchers analyzed tissue samples from 297 people with brain tumours. After isolating eight immune-related genes that play a role in glioblastoma, three of those genes were found to protect against the cancer while five were linked to earlier deaths.
“We've had luck with other types of cancer in removing the brakes on the immune system to allow it to fight the tumors, but this has not been the case with glioblastoma," the study’s author, Dr. Anhua Wu of the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, China, said.
"If our discovery of these genes is validated in other studies, we could use this 'gene signature' to determine the best treatments or path of treatment."
People with this fast-growing cancer generally live for less than two years — even with treatment. Downie, 52, has already undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy since his diagnosis in December 2015. Downie’s doctors have said his cancer’s location makes it treatable, but not curable.
"The looming question in brain cancer research today is whether the launch of immunotherapy will help control an uncontrollable disease," Dr. Rifaat Bashir, a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association, said.
"While this study does not answer this question, it brings us one step closer to believing that one day we will be able to exploit the immune system to better treat glioblastoma."
