Patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) usually live on average for only 15 months after diagnosis, even undergoing aggressive surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, as such brain tumors are highly resistant to current chemotherapies.

The newly established method knocks out the signaling pathway in multiple members of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family in brain-cancer cells, according to the study conducted by Dr. John Kuo, the assistant professor of neurological surgery and human oncology at UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

In an earlier research, Dr. Kuo and other scientists found GBM cancer cells escape current treatments and proliferate rapidly, causing tumor recurrence.

In their recent study, the researchers produced a new drug, lapatinib, approved by the FDA, that inhibits one of the EGFR family receptors, ERBB2, activity and signaling pathway of multiple EGFR members.

“This is good news, because these drugs target an important mechanism for the (GBM) cancer cells to grow so quickly and evade current therapies, and these molecularly targeted drugs are also well-tolerated by patients and have minimal side effects,” said Dr. Paul Clark, the scientist in Kuo’s lab and the lead author.