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CURE’s brain cancer page features the latest cancer news and updates on brain cancer Through articles, videos, podcasts, and more, CURE brings readers the insights of experts, cancer survivors, patients, and advocates to ensure everyone is up to date in brain cancer.

After a car accident, and experiencing what he thought was a stroke, Matt Newman was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 39 — an experience he found strength and courage in.

With a wife and three children at home, as well as a cancer partner in his father-in-law facing his own pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Matt immediately went into fight mode. He utilized fitness and exercise to get through his craniotomy recovery, and went on to write “Starting At The Finish Line,” which tells his personal story.

“I’ve earned my legacy and cancer had nothing to do with it,” he says.

In this episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with Matt Newman, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at 39, but refuses to let cancer define the legacy he has made.

Earning Your Legacy: Cancer Has Nothing To Do With It

Ninety percent of patients with cancer enter their first oncology appointment with a nutritional issue; however, Savor Health, who works in conjunctions with Merck’s Your Cancer Game Plan, has set out to combat just that.

 Talks Cancer, founder and CEO of Savor Health, Susan Bratton discussed the importance of nutrition for patients and caregivers before, during and after treatment.

For more information, visit savorhealth.com, and to read some of the organization’s recipes, visit our Spring issue of 

In this week’s episode, we spoke with the founder and CEO of Savor Health on the importance of nutrition for patients and caregivers before, during and after cancer treatment.

Addressing Nutritional Needs in Cancer

After receiving a stage 4 neuroblastoma diagnosis at 15 months old, Candace Stevens beat the odds, and has used her experience to shape her career choice today.

Stevens was treated at St. Jude, and now participates in the institution’s LIFE program — research that brings long-term childhood cancer survivors back to St. Jude for regular health screenings throughout their adult lives. The findings from this research are helping survivors learn more about their individual health needs and also providing researchers with novel insights into the late effects of cancer therapy.

In this week’s episode, we spoke with Candace about growing up as a cancer survivor, why programs like St. Jude LIFE are helping other children moving forward, and why everyone should keep believing in miracles.

In this week’s episode of the CURE Talks Cancer podcast, we spoke with a childhood cancer survivor about her journey with stage 4 neuroblastoma, and also about taking part in the St. Jude LIFE research program.

Believing Miracles Can Happen

We’re wrapping up Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by talking to Micah Bernstein, a 7-year-old, three-time survivor of neuroblastoma, and her father, Jeff. 

Micah and Jeff discussed their experiences with the disease, as well as Micah’s participation in clinical trials, being a “tester for the drugs,” as she put it. Now that Micah has no evidence of disease (NED), she hopes that she can inspire other children who face a cancer diagnosis, and one day hopes to become a doctor.

Micah Bernstein is only 7 years old and has already fought cancer three times. Now, she hopes to be an inspiration to other children.

Words of Wisdom from a 7-Year-Old Cancer Survivor

Trials enrolling patients with relapsed leukemia, lymphoma and brain cancers, respectively, report early data showing safety/activity with novel therapies. 

Clinical Trial Corner: New Treatments in Leukemia, Lymphoma and Brain Cancers

The 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting highlighted key advances in brain cancer and brain metastases for patients affected by the disease.

Explaining Brain Cancer and Metastases Updates for Patients

The FDA granted fast track designation to RAD101, an experimental imaging agent, to improve detection of recurrent brain metastases.

FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to RAD101 in Brain Metastases 

Younger patients with grade 3 oligodendroglioma have fewer molecular abnormalities and longer survival than older patients, a study found.

Study Reveals Distinct Outcomes in Younger Patients With Grade 3 Oligodendroglioma

Dr. Ranjit S. Bindra discusses recent advancements for the treatment of patients with primary brain tumors during Brain Cancer Awareness Month.

Brain Cancer Awareness Month Highlights Advances in Radiation Therapy  

The de-escalation of therapy helps avoid unnecessary toxicity from treatment in patients with brain cancer, explained Drs. Joshua K. Sabari and Manmeet Singh Ahluwalia.

Delving Into Brain Cancer Treatment Takeaways Following ASCO 2025

The de-escalation of therapy helps avoid unnecessary toxicity from treatment, making it an important consideration during the treatment of patients with brain cancer or metastases, Dr. Manmeet Singh Ahluwalia said during an interview with Dr. Joshua K. Sabari on the topic of the 

. Ahluwalia went on to highlight the emergence of antibody-drug conjugates and immunotherapy in across the therapeutic landscape, new drugs and approaches which help improve survival and neurologic function for patients, and pushing the envelope of treatment.

To kick off their conversation, Ahluwalia and Sabari began by highlighting the CATNON trial, a randomized, multicenter trial for patients with grade 3 gliomas being conducted by EORTC with U.S. cooperative group participation. The investigation aimed to understand if treatment with temozolomide chemotherapy provided patients with benefit when given concurrently with radiation versus after radiation.

According to Ahluwalia, investigators of the CATNON trial found that the concurrent treatment did not provide benefit, and that there was a clear benefit derived in patients who were treated with adjuvant therapy post-radiation

Moreover, Sabari and Ahluwalia went on to highlight the HER3-DXd antibody-drug conjugate to be used in patients with brain metastases from their lung and/or HER2-positive breast cancer. Ahluwalia explained that, of those treated with the investigational therapy, he trial reported a 30% intracranial response rate in patients with lung cancer brain metastases. Additionally, there was a 23% intracranial response rate for patients with brain metastases from their breast cancer.

Of the patients with leptomeningeal disease, 65% of patients survived three or more months, while 50% experienced benefit of 6 months or more. Overall, Ahluwalia said that the HER3-DXd agent provided intracranial activity in this difficult-to-treat patient population, including those with leptomeningeal disease.

Sabari is the editor in chief of CURE. He also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and director of High Reliability Organization Initiatives at Perlmutter Cancer Center. Ahluwalia is a neuro-oncologist. He serves as the chief scientific officer, chief of medical oncology, deputy director and Fernandez Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education,

don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

The de-escalation of therapy helps avoid unnecessary toxicity from treatment in patients with brain cancer, explained Drs. Joshua K. Sabari and Manmeet Singh Ahluwalia.


Conference

IDH inhibitors, now FDA approved for lower-grade gliomas, yield fewer side effects than chemotherapy, said Dr. Ryan Merrell.

IDH Inhibitors Offer New, Safer Option for Some Brain Tumors

IDH inhibitors are now approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are available for patients with lower-grade gliomas, offering a therapeutic option with a more manageable side effect profile compared with traditional chemotherapy, according to Dr. Ryan Merrell.

In an interview with CURE, in tandem with Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Merrell also encouraged patients with glioblastoma to consider clinical trials, noting that while many studies haven’t met their primary goals, some patients see meaningful benefit. “You could be that person,” he said.

Merrell is the division chief of neuro-oncology and associate professor of neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Question: What progress have you seen in treatment options for clinical trials, for brain tumors that patients should be aware of during this month?

: I think I would highlight the IDH inhibitors. I mean, these are unique drugs. These actually are pill forms of drugs that are taken every day. And the thing that's really attractive about this is that they have a very good side effect profile. So, they don't follow the traditional chemotherapy side effects that you would see with traditional drugs where you'd get a lot of GI (gastrointestinal) side effects, or a lot of fatigue or the potential to have effects on blood cells. So, these are definitely much more available now that they're FDA approved, and certainly especially in the lower grade gliomas, options that we didn't have before.

As far as clinical trials are concerned. I think glioblastoma still remains the most important tumor to study, just because it's such a such an aggressive tumor. And I encourage patients to participate in clinical trials as much as they can. And I think one thing that some people misunderstand about clinical trials is they think, “Well, I'm just going to test out a drug to see if it's going to have a side effect on me.”

Well, in most cases, clinical trials are designed to help the patient, and you certainly will contribute to the research effort in terms of helping other people, but in most cases, these are really aimed at helping you and hopefully lead to better treatments for this kind of tumor. I think one of the positive things I can say about clinical trials is that — unfortunately, in glioblastoma, we've had many that have been negative and not met the bar that they needed to meet for the overall population; however, in most of these trials, there are some patients that really do well and respond well. And I tell people, you could be that person.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to 

subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Advances in Radiation Improve Precision in Brain Cancer Therapy

The field of radiation oncology in relation to brain cancer treatment has advanced with precise therapeutic approaches, such as proton and carbon therapy, according to Dr. Ranjit S. Bindra, who went on to add that these approaches offer significant benefits when targeting brain tumors, including metastases.

To further explore this topic, Bindra sat down for an interview with CURE. In the interview, he expanded on the importance of recognizing May as Brain Cancer Awareness Month and highlighted some of the most recent advancements in therapeutic radiology for patients with primary brain tumors or brain metastases.

Bindra currently serves at the Yale School of Medicine as the Harvey and Kate Cushing professor of therapeutic radiology and professor of pathology; vice chair for translational research, therapeutic radiology; scientific director of the Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center; chief of Pediatrics Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, therapeutic radiology; and chief of the Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, therapeutic radiology.

I think it’s an exciting time for the field of radiation oncology because we are now showing that novel, advanced treatment modalities like proton-based radiotherapy and even carbon therapy are showing significant benefits, promise, and potential. [These modalities] are really the next generation of radiation therapy for patients.

These treatments, especially protons, offer precise targeting with minimal toxicity to the normal tissue, or sparing of the normal tissue. From a radiation oncology perspective, we’re getting much better at localizing and treating these tumors while sparing the normal tissue. That’s for primary brain tumors, but also for brain metastases.

For patients who have developed these brain metastases, we are also now able to use a technique called radiosurgery and really pinpoint precise radiation to those spots in the brain, potentially [avoiding] surgery or toxic systemic therapy options.

The field of radiation oncology has advanced in brain cancer treatment with precise therapeutic approaches including proton and carbon therapy.

The phase 2 GIANT trial will evaluate Opdivo with or without relatlimab in IDH-wildtype newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

Clinical Trial to Evaluate Opdivo, Opdualag in Glioblastoma

Following the results of a hypothesis-generating study of immunotherapy in glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, a phase 2 clinical trial is set to evaluate Opdivo (nivolumab) with or without relatlimab, a combination known as Opdualag, among patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wildtype newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

The GIANT trial, set to be held in the United States at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, was designed by professor Georgina Long, following up on her research into glioblastoma that was published in 

Long is the medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) and chair of melanoma medical oncology and translational research at MIA and Royal North Shore Hospital, The University of Sydney. 

 article looked at the case of one patient with IDH-wild-type, MGMT promoter unmethylated glioblastoma who received treatment with a single dose of triplet immunotherapy followed by surgery who, after 17 months, showed no definitive sign of recurrence.

“It really showed that, despite what the oncology field thinks about glioblastoma, the immune system is not able to be activated against it; you can actually do that in certain circumstances,” Long said. “So when I came up with the idea and the hypothesis, because I developed drugs in melanoma — yes, we are curing over 50% of patients with immune stimulants or immunotherapy, [but] we still have 45% of patients who die from melanoma, and they die quickly — from my experience in the translational lab and in the clinic, because I'm a medical oncologist and translational researcher, my thinking about those sort of patients and the resistance to immunotherapy is what I applied to the glioblastoma.”

In light of the findings, the GIANT trial has an estimated start date of June 1, 2025, and will enroll approximately 92 patients, according to its listing on clinicaltrials.gov.

Long discussed her findings and the upcoming GIANT trial in an interview with 

The principles are: First of all, choose the right immunotherapies. You need to use CTLA-4. That's very important as part of your regimen in these terrible, terrible tumors. No. 2, use it early. Immunotherapy is best if you're going to test it. Test it early. No. 3, that publication was hypothesis-generating. We don't want to give false hope. We now need to show clinical benefit in a trial, and we are opening that. In fact, I designed that within six weeks and got the drugs within 10 weeks of that diagnosis of that patient. Then No. 4, the science showed activation of T cells infiltrating the glioblastoma after treatment, and [the] drug bound to the T cells. They're the four principles from that piece of work that I led, and now the trial should open in 2025 across America and Australia. It's an Australian trial driven by the Australians, but the Americans came on board, and now it's co-led by Duke University and the [Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research] and [Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre] in Australia, but that came from the work I did and I put together.

Maggie Bushway reflected on her memoir “Pearls: A Memoir on Childhood Cancer and Hope,” and her journey of healing and resilience after brain cancer.

Brain Cancer Survivor Reflects on Memoir and Her Journey

In 2003, 7-year-old Maggie Bushway started writing a book about her experience with brain cancer, while her father, Rob, began documenting their family’s story on a blog. Two decades later, Maggie, now 28, came across a box containing her dad’s printed blog posts and fragments of her unfinished book. With years of reflection on her health, family and hope, she felt ready to bring the pieces together and complete the story she began as a child.

, Maggie Bushway reflected on rediscovering her childhood writings and her father's blog posts that recorded her early experience with brain cancer. She discussed the emotional process of integrating these pieces into her book, “Pearls: A Memoir on Childhood Cancer and Hope.”

Bushway shared how her family brought comfort during treatment and emphasized the importance of finding joy in small moments, such as building forts with her siblings or creating fashion show skits.

She also discussed how the writing process was exposed. However, her memoir became a form of therapeutic healing that helped her through the journey while facing new challenges.

I was given so many prognoses that showed that [I] wasn't going to be able to graduate high school, wasn't going to be able to go to college, live on my own and have a career. And I just want kids to know that you know your prognosis isn't your life. You can try to accomplish your dreams. You can push to make things happen. And just because the doctor said that you can't do something, it doesn't mean that you'll never be able to do it with treatment and healing and different kinds of therapy. In the case of brain cancer, you can find a way to make it happen.

Maggie Bushway, a brain cancer survivor, revisited her childhood writings and her father's blog documenting her cancer journey. Now 28, she completed her memoir, "Pearls: A Memoir on Childhood Cancer and Hope," reflecting on her experiences and the support from her family. The writing process served as therapeutic healing, helping her navigate new challenges. Bushway emphasizes that a prognosis does not define one's life, encouraging others to pursue their dreams despite medical predictions. Her story highlights resilience, hope, and the power of family support.

SurVaxM, which is being study in gliobastoma, targets a certain protein that is found on the brain cancer cells. 

An Expert Breakdown of SurVaxM, the Novel Brain Cancer Vaccine

A novel cancer vaccine, SurVaxM, is being studied for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. A trial of the drug is currently fully enrolled, and results can be expected around this time next year, according to Dr. Manmeet S. Ahluwalia.

Ahluwalia is the chief scientific officer and chief of medical oncology and deputy director and Fernandez Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute. He recently sat down with CURE® at the 2024 

American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting

FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to SurVaxM for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma

Ahluwalia explained that SurVaxM targets the survivin protein, which is found on gliobastoma cells and is associated with poor outcomes.

“Essentially, if survivin is expressed, patients with glioblastoma have worse outcomes. So, the intent of this vaccine is to not only reverse that negative prognostic factor but on top, build efficacy [in treating the disease],” Ahluwalia said.

SurVaxM is a peptide-based vaccine that targets survivin. Survivin is a peptide which is presented the cancer cells and is not present in the normal cells. We have found survivin expression in almost all of the glioblastoma patients. It is an intracellular (located inside of a cell) protein, but it is expressed on the surface and that's why we are utilizing this peptide-based vaccine to target survivin. Survivin is an anti-apoptotic pathway (meaning a protein that inhibits cancer cell death). Essentially, if survivin is expressed, patients with glioblastoma have worse outcomes. So, the intent of this vaccine is to not only reverse that negative prognostic factor but on top, build efficacy [in treating the disease].

SurVaxM, which is being studied in gliobastoma, targets a certain protein that is found on the brain cancer cells. 

In an interim analysis of a phase 2 study of Ibrance (palbociclib) researchers found the drug had a cranial benefit for patients with brain metastasis that harbored a cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) pathway alteration, according to data presented at the 2019 Society for NeuroOncology Annual Meeting.

New findings show that Ibrance has the potential to help patients with brain metastases that harbor a CDK pathway alteration.

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