Study finds new way to treat brain cancer

In a study done at the Standford University Medical Center, the drug arsenic trioxide was given to mice with glioblastoma, an incurable form of brain cancer. The mice then received radiation treatment. Neither arsenic trioxide or radiation alone significantly slowed tumor growth, but when the two treatments were combined, the cancer was eliminated in 4 out of 5 mice and was reduced by 90% in the fifth mouse. After three months the tumors had not resumed growing. The researchers hope to move on to human clinical trials by next year.