Innovative therapy to 'trick' and destroy cancer cells has entered clinical trials

A new therapy researched at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Cancer Center has led to a clinical trial for the treatment of glioblastoma

Despite decades of research worldwide, only incremental progress has been made in prolonging or improving the quality of life of glioblastoma patients

The therapy was developed from years of research led by Christopher Chitambar, MD, whose lab studies iron-dependent processes in cancer biology and the mechanisms by which gallium compounds target iron metabolism and block the growth of malignant cells

Originally developed by Harvard and Stanford graduate scientist Lawrence R.

"The discovery in preclinical studies that GaM has anticancer activity against glioblastoma is very exciting; it opens the door to the development of a drug to treat glioblastoma in patients," said Christopher Chitambar, MD said he is a professor emeritus of medicine and biophysics in the MCW Division of Hematology and Oncology

Jennifer Connelly, MD, associate professor of neurology at MCW, is the principal investigator (PI) of the clinical trial, with Dr.

The trial was sponsored by Imaging Biometrics with funding from the Musella Brain Tumor Foundation and MCW Cancer Center

Imaging biometics has over a decade of experience in quantitative imaging analysis of brain tumors, including analysis of several national multicenter trials, and will provide image analysis solutions for assessing response to GaM

The trial, conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Fruitt School of Medicine, is currently accepting participants and is expected to complete in December 2025