One reason brain tumors are likely to return after treatment is that they have genetic mutations that allow them to repair the damage to their DNA that's inflicted by radiation and chemotherapy. Ranjit S. Bindra, MD, PhD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, discovered that tumors with certain mutations were particularly susceptible to existing drugs that inhibit the enzymes that repair damaged DNA.
Adolescents and young adults with high-grade gliomas often carry this gene mutation. With help from the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium and CureSearch for Children's Cancer, Bindra and Asher Marks, MD, associate professor of pediatrics (hematology/oncology), were able to launch a clinical trial in under 18 months.
In this video, Bindra and Marks, both members of Yale Cancer Center, share how they were able to bring laboratory discoveries to the clinic in a short period of time, and how it's changing treatment for young people with brain tumors.