Tetanus Vaccine Increases Life Span of Patients With Brain Tumor

by Julia Samuel on March 16, 2015 at 2:24 PM

A new study has found that the survival chances of the patient extends when a simple tetanus shot is added to another vaccine used in the treatment of brain cancer.

Researchers from the Duke Cancer Institute found that three of six patients with glioblastoma, the most aggressive primary brain tumor, lived years longer than expected after receiving a tetanus shot. The injection, targeting a virus in the tumor was given to enhance an immunotherapy.

Brain Tumor

Brain tumors are the abnormal growth of brain cells that may be benign or metastatic. Brain tumors account for about 2.4% of all the tumor diagnosesandare most challenging due to their critically delicate location.

Kristen Batich, a medical student at the Duke University and her colleagues split 12 glioblastoma patients into two groups, six received a tetanus booster and six received a placebo shot. Next day, all 12 patients were given a treatment called dendritic cell immunotherapy, which uses dendritic cells to train the immune system to respond to a specific infectious agent.

"Because the average survival is 12 to 15 months in patients who receive a diagnosis of this tumour, we were quite surprised by the results of three patients who had much longer survival times," said Batich.

Source: Medindia

Glioma Brain Tumor

Democrat Senator Edward Kennedy has been diagnosed with Glioma, a kind of brain tumor. Tests carried out on the 76 -year old politician revealed a tumor on his left parietal lobe.

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Quiz on Brain Tumor

Brain tumor is a group of cells with abnormal growth in the brain. A primary brain tumor indicates the tumor that starts in the brain. A secondary tumor originates elsewhere in the body and then spreads to the brain.

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