Experimental treatment spared a patient from stage four brain cancer
Australian pathologist Richard Scolyer, who was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour a year ago, developed an experimental treatment together with oncologist Georgina Long. Despite the risk of fatal drug poisoning and death, the malignant process in the body of the scientist was able to stop. Still, the results of the experiment have not yet been published in scientific journals, but Skolayer and Long have provided authoritative data to the subscribers of their social media accounts and media editorial boards.
Glioblastoma is a cancer of the brain. It is the tumour that is considered the most aggressive and ultimately incurable. People with such a diagnosis live an average of one and a half years after its diagnosis, and only five per cent of all patients manage to live longer than five years.
Professor Richard Scolyer, 57, faced such a brain tumour: he was diagnosed with glioblastoma at the fourth and final stage. The doctor, together with oncologist Professor Georgina Long, began to develop a treatment that would defeat the deadly disease. As a pair, they had already managed a common incurable form of cancer in Australia - advanced melanoma of the skin. Then they found a treatment that cured numerous patients of this cancer. These scientists are considered pioneers in cancer research and are the heads of the Melanoma Institute in Australia.
The general protocol for dealing with glioblastoma has not changed much in the last twenty years: it is customary to remove the tumour immediately, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Scolyer began treatment in June 2023, immediately after his diagnosis. Together with Georgina Long and a large medical team, they decided to use combination immunotherapy before surgery. This is a method researchers Long and Scolyer were the first to successfully use in the fight against melanoma, but no one had ever tried it to treat brain cancer.
According to Georgina Long, immunotherapy using a combination of drugs before surgery is like training a sniffer dog: "You let it smell contraband, in the sense of cancer cells, so that once the tumour is removed it can track them down." However, the treatment had serious risks: poisoning and brain oedema could occur due to the toxicity of the drugs, leading to death, and delaying surgery was dangerous because of the aggressiveness of the disease. In addition, some oncologists were not sure that the drugs could reach the brain and trigger the right immune system response.
Despite her doubts and fear for her colleague and friend, Long assembled a team of experts and began the experiment. A personalised cancer vaccine was created for Skolayer, which was tailored to the characteristics of his tumour. The professor became the first person to be injected with such a drug. He talked about all stages of treatment in a special "diary" in several social networks, as well as in conversations with journalists from the Australian BBC and other media.
Eventually, traces of the drugs used for immunotherapy were found in the removed tumour, as well as signals indicating the activation of immune cells. This meant that the drugs had done their job and Skolyer's body could start fighting the cancer cells.
A recurrence, or return, of glioblastoma occurs on average six months after surgery. But in Richard Skolayer's case, signs of active cancer have been absent for eight months. In his own words, he feels good, has been able to return to his daily jogging routine and spend more time with his family:
"It certainly doesn't mean that my brain cancer is cured... but it's good to know that it hasn't come back yet, so I still have time to enjoy life with my wife Kathy and three wonderful children."
The results of Long and Scolyer's experiment are of great interest to the medical community. The tandem of professors may be on the cusp of a discovery that could achieve remission and prolong the lives of patients around the world with malignant brain tumours.
However, physician Roger Stupp, after whom the current glioblastoma treatment protocol is named, previously told the BBC that it is too early to talk about the success of the experimental method. In his opinion, a better reason to rejoice will appear when Skolayer will live without recurrence for a year or a year and a half.