First Treatment Method for Deadly Brain Cancer Shows Promising Results in Australian Doctor

One year ago, Richard Skulley, an Australian doctor, was diagnosed with a deadly type of brain cancer and decided to test an unconventional treatment method on himself. Now, this 57-year-old doctor has announced that his latest MRI, one year after being diagnosed with this aggressive brain cancer, shows no signs of tumor recurrence. Dr. Shahram Kordasti, a professor in the oncology department at King's College London and a hematology-oncology specialist, told Voice of America that the results obtained are not only promising for the patient himself but also for those suffering from cancers that are difficult to treat. This type of glioblastoma is so aggressive that most patients survive less than a year. The late American senator Ted Kennedy died at 77, fifteen months after being diagnosed with this disease in 2008. Joe Biden's eldest son also underwent standard treatment in 2013 and returned to work a few months later, but his cancer recurred two years later, and he died a few days later at the age of 46. The conventional treatment for this disease, which includes surgery followed by killing cancer cells with radiation therapy and then chemotherapy, has not changed since 2005. Oncologists often refer to specific tumors like glioblastoma as 'cold' because they are unable to mount an immune response to popular checkpoint inhibitors like Merck's Keytruda. Richard Skulley suggested that a biopsy be done before surgery and radiation therapy to design a personalized vaccine for his cancer and stimulate the immune system to eliminate cancer cells before surgery. His treating physicians were initially unwilling to do this and warned that it carried the risk of premature death. Ultimately, he convinced them, and a personalized vaccine based on the type of tumor biopsy was designed, which he is still receiving. Richard Skulley is the first person to receive a vaccine tailored to the characteristics of his tumor before undergoing surgery. Dr. Kordasti states that immunotherapy is not a standard treatment for this type of deadly brain cancer, especially when done before surgery. Dr. Kordasti explained that 'cancer cells have abnormal proteins that can be recognized and eliminated by the immune system. Therefore, a vaccine can be made to enhance the immune system and introduce these cells to it, similar to what is being done for skin cancer, but this vaccine does not mean prevention.' This oncology specialist notes that designing personalized vaccines is costly because they must be made for specific tumors. Dr. Kordasti suggests that to make these vaccines more accessible, the same methods used for the COVID-19 vaccine should be relied upon. According to him, based on the experience gained from the COVID-19 vaccine, it seems that a series of mRNA vaccines that stimulate the immune system can be prepared and injected into patients based on tumor type. Some experts have warned against over-optimism regarding the results of a single patient. Dr. Kordasti emphasized that the results and immune responses should be evaluated in the long term, and the next step is a clinical trial that, if positive, could be used as a common treatment. Professor Skulley and his colleague Georgia Lang have put this experimental treatment to the test. Their research, which manages the Melanoma Institute of Australia, has given hope to patients with advanced melanoma over the past decade. In early April of this year, a 52-year-old man who had a cancerous tumor removed from his scalp last year received the first custom melanoma vaccine made by Merck and Moderna in the UK. Phase two trials of this custom vaccine have shown that the likelihood of death or cancer recurrence after three years in patients with high-risk melanoma who received the vaccine in combination with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda is half that of those who only received Keytruda. This novel cancer treatment method is also being tested for lung, liver, and kidney cancers. The Australian doctor who tested the custom vaccine for his brain tumor states that although the absence of cancer recurrence after one year does not mean cancer is cured, this innovative method has given him the opportunity to enjoy more time with his wife and three children.