The Brain Tumor Center at Duke boasts:

• One of the largest libraries of tumor cell lines in the world, allowing researchers to study the complex mechanisms of brain tumors and devise better ways of battling them.
• Recognition by the National Institutes of Health as a leader in the research and treatment of brain tumors -- including designation as the nation’s only Specialized Research Center for Malignant Gliomas and Medulloblastomas from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
• More active clinical trials than any other known treatment center.

We offer more than 40 experimental treatments -- most developed in our own labs -- to subdue aggressive brain tumors, overcome drug-resistant tumors, and manipulate the genes and proteins that fuel a tumor’s growth.

Among our novel therapies are radio-labeled monoclonal antibodies to fight high-grade glioma, dendritic cell vaccines to eradicate malignant brain tumors, and temozolomide plus 06BG and Avastin to battle malignant glioma.

Duke brain tumor researchers have also combined the cancer-killing properties of the poliovirus with a harmless genetic coding element from the common cold to create an anti-cancer agent that was very effective in killing brain cancer (as well as breast cancer and colon cancer) in the laboratory, without causing polio. Doctors expect to test this new treatment in humans in the next few years.