Glioblastoma : hydroxyurea enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy

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Published the 23.01.2018 at 16h08

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Keywords :

Glioblastomehydroxyuréechimiothérapie

A diagnosis of glioblastoma cancer of the brain involves the prognosis is very pejorative, most of the patients dying within five years. A hope for the mass treatment of glioblastoma was opened by a team led by researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston : the addition of hydroxyurea, a drug already old, the current protocol of chemotherapy significantly increases the survival and healing, in an animal model of glioblastoma.
The study was published in the journal Neuro-Oncology. “The combination led to a significant increase in the survival of different mouse models, it can go from 40% to 60% healing “, welcomes Bakhos Tannous, the lead author of the study.

A advanced for many types of glioblastomas

With these promising results, the team has investigated this combination in several types of glioblastoma. Although each drug, taken individually, had only a moderate effect on the growth and survival of the tumor, the combination has very significantly improved its anticancer efficacy.
“The fact that the combination is effective in all cell and animal models and that it is non-selective for a particular type of glioblastoma is very exciting because it suggests that the combination could be effective in all patients with glioblastoma,” says Bakhos Tannous. “Hydroxyurea has been used for decades to treat conditions such as sickle cell anemia and certain types of cancers. This means that this approach could be readily available to many patients, and we are in the process of initiating a clinical trial of phase 1 to test this association.”