Overview

Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke

The common interests of the Neuro-oncology Program are primary malignant brain tumors of adults and children.  The scientific goals are:  Aim 1:  to conduct epidemiological and molecular epidemiological studies to investigate etiology and to identify populations at greater and lesser risk for development of malignant brain tumors in adults and children; Aim 2: to determine molecular mechanisms of transformation, altered growth control, and invasion of malignant brain tumors of adults and children; Aim 3: to identify new drugs active against primary brain tumors of adults and children, to determine  mechanisms of drug resistance in primary brain tumors, and to institute methods to overcome drug resistance; Aim 4: to develop monoclonal antibodies and recombinant DNA antibody fragments reactive with molecular targets, primary brain tumors, and to develop immunoconjugates for brain tumor treatment; Aim 5: to develop new radiolabeling technology for peptides and monoclonal antibodies and their fragments that will facilitate the investigation of promising radionuclides, including the α-emitter 211Astatine and the beta-emitter 177Lutetium, in targeted radiotherapy clinical trial for brain tumor patients; Aim 6:   to develop cell-mediated immunotherapy and dendritic-based vaccine trials for brain tumors; Aim 7: to develop oncolytic poliovirus with no neurovirulence, but retention of oncolytic capacity for gliomas, into a reagent that can be used for therapy of malignant gliomas and neoplastic meningitis from breast cancer; Aim 8:  to develop imaging capabilities with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for improved brain tumor diagnosis, monitoring of therapeutic response, and determination of patient-specific radiation dosimetry in radiolabeled antibody, chemotherapy and small molecular inhibitor clinical trials in brain tumor patients;  Aim 9:  to design and execute Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III clinical trials in primary and metastatic brain tumors in adults and children, based on laboratory discoveries within the Program, and to execute clinical trials for improvement of quality of life in brain tumor patients.  The Program includes 26 members from 12 basic and clinical departments within Duke University. From 2004-2008, program members published 612 papers in peer-reviewed journals cited in PubMed. Of these publications, 20% are the result of intra-programmatic collaborations and 27% due to inter-programmatic collaborations.

Duke continues to lead the nation in having the largest clinical brain tumor service, seeing between 800 and 900 new brain tumor patients annually. 

High-Impact Journal Publications

Below are recent publications in high-impact journals from Cancer Center members in this program. To see journal articles for a particular member, click on the researcher's name in the Membership section.

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Friedman HS,Prados MD,Wen PY,Mikkelsen T,Schiff D,Abrey LE,Yung WK,Paleologos N,Nicholas MK,Jensen R,Vredenburgh J,Huang J,Zheng M,Cloughesy T. Bevacizumab Alone and in Combination With Irinotecan in Recurrent Glioblastoma., . Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Gao W,Liu W,Mackay JA,Zalutsky MR,Toone EJ,Chilkoti A. In situ growth of a stoichiometric PEG-like conjugate at a protein's N-terminus with significantly improved pharmacokinetics., . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abstract [More ...]

Weller M,Reardon D,Nabors B,Stupp R. Will integrin inhibitors have proangiogenic effects in the clinic?, , (726; author reply 727) - Nature medicine No abstract available [More ...]

Li Z,Bao S,Wu Q,Wang H,Eyler C,Sathornsumetee S,Shi Q,Cao Y,Lathia J,McLendon RE,Hjelmeland AB,Rich JN. Hypoxia-inducible factors regulate tumorigenic capacity of glioma stem cells., , (501-13) - Cancer cell Abstract [More ...]

Friedman AH. Tamsulosin and the intraoperative floppy iris syndrome., , (2044-5) - JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association No abstract available [More ...]

Ellis LM,Reardon DA. Cancer: The nuances of therapy., , (290-2) - Nature No abstract available [More ...]

Quinn JA,Jiang SX,Reardon DA,Desjardins A,Vredenburgh JJ,Rich JN,Gururangan S,Friedman AH,Bigner DD,Sampson JH,McLendon RE,Herndon JE 2nd,Walker A,Friedman HS. Phase II trial of temozolomide plus o6-benzylguanine in adults with recurrent, temozolomide-resistant malignant glioma., , (1262-7) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Read TA,Fogarty MP,Markant SL,McLendon RE,Wei Z,Ellison DW,Febbo PG,Wechsler-Reya RJ. Identification of CD15 as a marker for tumor-propagating cells in a mouse model of medulloblastoma., , (135-47) - Cancer cell Abstract [More ...]

Yang ZJ,Ellis T,Markant SL,Read TA,Kessler JD,Bourboulas M,Schüller U,Machold R,Fishell G,Rowitch DH,Wainwright BJ,Wechsler-Reya RJ. Medulloblastoma can be initiated by deletion of Patched in lineage-restricted progenitors or stem cells., , (135-45) - Cancer cell Abstract [More ...]

Fouladi M,Chintagumpala M,Ashley D,Kellie S,Gururangan S,Hassall T,Gronewold L,Stewart CF,Wallace D,Broniscer A,Hale GA,Kasow KA,Merchant TE,Morris B,Krasin M,Kun LE,Boyett JM,Gajjar A. Amifostine protects against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in children with average-risk medulloblastoma., , (3749-55) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

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Click here for these and other high-impact publications in this research program.