Groundbreaking, $4.4 Million Project Launched to Improve Brain Cancer Treatments and Outcomes

Seattle (October 22, 2009) /PRNewswire/ — Imagine this: You’re 31 and in the prime of your life. You have a family with two little girls, and the job you always dreamed of. One day, out of the blue, you have a seizure. The doctor sends you in for an MRI. It turns out that seizure was a symptom of something much more serious—you have brain cancer. And now, you’re in the fight of your life.

Each year, more than 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. For patients diagnosed with the most aggressive form—glioblastoma multiforme—the prognosis is grim. With few treatment options available, most patients have just one-to-two years to live. But now, a new research project offers renewed hope in the fight against brain cancer.

Today, in a uniquely collaborative partnership, the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Ben and Catherine Ivy Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment launched the Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas Project. This major research project aims at unlocking the secrets behind one of the deadliest brain cancers known to humankind—glioblastoma multiforme, the same disease that recently took the life of Senator Ted Kennedy.

The Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas Project will show which genes are active – or not functioning normally – within a glioblastoma tumor at a level of detail not previously possible. The development of better therapies depends on understanding the key molecular changes that drive brain tumor behavior.

The ultimate goal of the project is to improve disease management in patients with glioblastoma, as well as facilitate breakthroughs in drug development and treatment. Researchers expect these breakthroughs could accelerate the effort to develop improved patient prognoses through more personalized treatment plans.

Since glioblastoma is a highly heterogeneous disease—meaning that brain cancer manifests itself differently in each person—it is challenging for researchers to discover effective treatments. Each treatment plan needs to be highly personalized and the development of better patient therapies depends on an improved understanding of the differences in brain tumors. This detailed information from the Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas Project will move us closer to making personalized medicine a reality.

In an age where science seems to do the unimaginable, only three new brain cancer treatments have been FDA approved in the past 25 years. This must change. For the patients living with glioblastoma, the families that support them and the doctors that treat them, finding improved treatments is not an option—it’s a necessity. The Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas Project provides renewed hope for those living with brain cancer.