Scientists bring new hope to brain tumor patients

sGBM is a rare type of brain cancer in adults. The incidence varies from 2 to 5 per million people per year. For example, if Hong Kong's base population of 7.5 million people is taken as a reference, over 15 people will be diagnosed with sGBM tumors annually. sGBM starts off as low-grade glioma (LGG) tumors around nerve cells that surround the spine and brain, and its 5-year survival rate is under 10%. Currently, sGBM tumors are treated with a chemotherapy drug called temozolomide (TMZ), first developed in Europe and became available for widespread patient use in the early 2000s. TMZ invokes non-specific DNA damage to tumor cells to prevent it from reproducing and spreading.
However, history and patient data show that sGBM patients undergoing TMZ treatment almost invariably have relapses which display mutations that allow the sGBM tumors to evade the second round of TMZ treatment, making it chemo-resistant and pushing researchers to look further afield to seek better treatment options.