Kelly Brown was 57 when she started complaining of frequent headaches. "It must be a sinus infection," her son, Connor Ferris, recalled her saying. But a family vacation in Italy prompted him to suspect a more sinister cause. “她不再是平时那个活泼好动的自己,他说的是他的母亲, 空乘人员, 前护士，三个年轻人的单亲妈妈. “我的母亲是一个勇敢的旅行者, 但在这次旅行中, 她总是很累，宁愿呆在旅馆里. 在一家餐馆，她睡着了——那不是我妈妈."
回到内华达州太浩湖的家中，布朗寻求医疗建议. MRI显示为胶质母细胞瘤, 最常见、最致命的脑肿瘤, 平均存活时间只有15个月. Treatment involved removing as much of the tumor as safely possible, 然后是放疗和化疗, 肿瘤可能会在几个月后复发.
There were closer hospitals, but Brown opted for treatment at UCSF Medical Center, ranked No. 美国神经病学和神经外科排名全国第二.S. News and World Report's Best Hospitals survey and the site of more than 25 state-of-the-art research laboratories dedicated to developing new treatments for brain tumors.
新的诊断和临床试验
经过最初的治疗，布朗恢复得出奇的好. 直到四年后，她的肿瘤才复发. 到那时, the UCSF 脑肿瘤中心 had developed two new tools to provide a more precise diagnosis than the standard scans and examination of cells under a microscope. Both of these molecular tools are now available to all UCSF patients who may have a malignant brain tumor.
第一, UCSF500, is a test assessing 500 cancer-associated genes that might be mutated in the patient's tumor tissue. These include mutations that can be attacked with targeted therapies that have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or are being tested in clinical trials, 说 Dr. 大卫. 所罗门, a molecular neuropathologist and principal investigator at the UCSF 脑肿瘤中心.
第二个工具, 被称为DNA甲基化分析, evaluates so-called "methyl marks" on the DNA within cancer cells that regulate activity of the genes involved in cancer growth. The pattern of these methyl marks across the genome provides 所罗门 with critical clues about where the cancer originated, 促进生长及其传播潜力的基因. The test also offers additional information that allows doctors to reach the most precise diagnosis and gain additional insights into personalized treatment. Research shows that this tool is the most accurate method for brain tumor classification and can change the pathologist's diagnosis in as many as 1 in 8 cases.
对布朗, these molecular tests – which used tissue extracted during surgery after her cancer recurred – revealed that the tumor was not glioblastoma after all but a different type with a better prognosis. 更好的是, Brown's tumor matched with a targeted therapy being tested in a clinical trial, 她最终将在那里注册.
