Reason to Have Hope in Ongoing Fight Against Glioblastoma
“Antiques Roadshow” star Theo Burrell, 38, revealed her brain tumor is experiencing “regrowth” and she is exploring new treatment options. The mother of one was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2022.
According to research published in the medical journal “Cancers” last year, “Despite initial treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, recurrence is the usual situation.”
A new and promising breakthrough has emerged in the fight against glioma, with the FDA approving a drug called Vorasidenib.
Vorasidenib can penetrate the brain’s nearly impenetrable blood-brain barrier, a natural protection for the brain. This ability increases the chance of the drug reaching cancer cells – a notable standout in the ongoing fight against glioma.
“Antiques Roadshow” star Theo Burrell, 38, says she is “overwhelmed by the kindness and support” after details emerged concerning her stage 4 glioblastoma diagnosis, which is an aggressive form of brain cancer. She recently learned the brain tumor she’s been living with since 2022 is experiencing regrowth and is now exploring a treatment plan.
“It’s with some heartbreak that I can confirm my glioblastoma has started regrowing,” Burrell said on Instagram.
Burrell, a mother of one, is among the team of experts that appear on the popular television show that comes from auction houses. The show has been around since 1979 and has had various iterations. However, nowadays, she’s becoming more known for her advocacy of brain cancer.
Since her latest scans returned concerning news of cancer progression, Burrell said her desire to keep fighting got an added boost.
“This has just fueled my fire to keep fighting for us all. We, as a community, as patients, as carers, as family and friends of those who have or have had a brain tumor, quite frankly deserve a lot better!” Burrell said.
Theo Burrell and her dog Pippy when she first got her in 2017. Courtesy of Instagram/@theo.burrell
Since sharing an update on her cancer journey, Burrell has been showered with support from fans.
“You have such an amazing attitude to all of this, Theo. Sending much love and enjoy each moment,” Instagram user Jen Hardy wrote.
Burrell says she is “extremely grateful for having had such a good quality of life over the last two years,” and she’s going to give this newest leg of her cancer journey everything she’s got.
Burrell is experiencing a form of cancer recurrence, which means the tumor (cancer) returns to begin to grow.
According to research published in the medical journal “Cancers” last year, “Despite initial treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, recurrence is the usual situation” regarding glioblastomas, which tend to have a poor prognosis with a median survival of “14 months.”
The researchers added that despite different treatment options often considered, such as additional surgery or radiation, there is “no standard treatment.”
WATCH: The Option to Partake in a Clinical Trial During Recurrence
Hope for Glioblastoma Patients
This past Fall, a promising breakthrough emerged to help treat glioma. In August, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Vorasidenib. The novel treatment is given to patients orally and is a dual inhibitor of the IDH mutation (IDH1 and IDH2). One of the country’s leading Neuro-oncologists, Dr. Henry Friedman, from the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University, tells SurvivorNet it’s a “game-changer” for patients with IDH-mutated, grade two glioma.
Patients who had taken this medication were shown to significantly improve progression-free survival, which means stable disease for a more extended period than the group that did not receive the drug. With that, the period to have new interventions also increased (time to subsequent intervention).
Vorasidenib can penetrate the brain’s nearly impenetrable blood-brain barrier, a natural protection for the brain. This brain-penetrant inhibitor makes this treatment a remarkable standout in the ongoing fight against glioma.
“Patients with grade two glioma who had IDH1 mutation treated with Vorasidenib doubled in terms of survival. And it’s a remarkable story. It’s splashed all over the media and is a game-changer for these patients. So now we have a different strategy,” Dr. Friedman adds.
Understanding Glioblastoma Tumors
Glioblastoma is considered a central nervous system (CNS) tumor. Burrell’s tumor is considered grade 4, which means her brain tumor “grows and spreads very quickly,” according to the National Cancer Institute.
According to the National Cancer Institute, the average survival rate is 15 months with treatment and less than six if left untreated. While there is a five-year survival rate of averaging 6 percent, those individuals will never be cancer-free. They must continue receiving radiation and chemotherapy for the rest of their lives.
Glioblastomas are tricky to treat and manage because their cells are heterogeneous, meaning that each is individually targeted to slow tumor growth. Surgery cannot remove all the cancer because the tumor burrows into the brain, so the tumor starts to grow again immediately after surgery.
WATCH: Assessing Treatment Options for Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma risk factors can include:
Prior radiation exposure
Gender: men are more likely to get glioblastoma than women
Age: people 50 years or older
Certain genetic syndromes, including neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, von Hippel-Lindau disease
Symptoms for glioblastoma can vary depending on the area of the brain where the tumor begins and spreads and its growth rate, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center. But common symptoms of glioblastoma can include:
Headaches
Seizures
Changes in mental function, mood, or personality
Changes in speech
Sensory changes in hearing, smell, and sight
Loss of balance
Changes in your pulse and breathing rate
Current Options to Treat Glioblastoma
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved some drug treatments, including temozolomide (Temodar), to help patients living with this aggressive disease.
Temozolomide is a chemotherapy drug patients can take after surgery and radiation therapy.
Dr. Daniel Wahl, professor of radiation and oncology at the University of Michigan, explains Temozolomide is an oral drug that ” slows down tumor growth.”
“Patients with GBM have effective treatment options; there are four of them: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and tumor targeting fields. These are electric fields that we can use to treat these cancers,” Dr. Wahl said.
Other FDA-approved drugs for treating glioblastoma include lomustine (Gleostine), intravenous carmustine (Bicnu), carmustine wafer implants, and Avastin (bevacizumab).
Avastin is a targeted drug therapy that blocks glioblastoma cells from requesting new blood vessels that feed and allow the tumor to grow.
“Outcomes for these patients are still suboptimal. What I tell my patients is that we have these effective treatments, but what they do is they delay the time to when this tumor comes back. Only in exceptional circumstances would we ever talk about getting rid of one of these cancers a few,” Dr. Wahl said.
Fortunately, research is ongoing to improve the prognosis for people battling glioblastoma. One area of promise is tumor-treating fields, which can help extend patients’ lives by two years on average, giving them hope.
Optune, the brand name for the tumor-treating field delivery device, was launched in 2011 and approved by the FDA in 2015. It is a wearable and portable device for glioblastoma treatment for adult patients aged 22 years or older.
“There’s been a very exciting development of tumor treating fields, which are electrical fields that have been applied to the brain,” Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan, a neurologist at Tufts Medical Center, previously told Survivor Net.
TTFields use low-intensity electric fields to disrupt the cell division process, making it harder for cancerous cells to multiply.
Despite Optune’s hope, not all cancer experts agree with its approach, including Dr. Friedman.
“Although the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recognizes Optune within its guidelines as a therapy for glioblastoma, many people don’t believe it adds value. At Duke, for example, we don’t consider it a mainstay of therapy,” Dr. Friedman said.
Burrell’s Cancer Journey
Burrell’s cancer journey began in 2022 when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma.
“Receiving my diagnosis, at the age of 35, when my son was one year old, was devastating,” Burrell previously told U.K.-based news outlet The Sun.
Theo Burrell has been diagnosed with glioblastoma.
Burrell is among the team of experts that appeared on the popular television show that comes from auction houses. She appeared on the British version of the show, which tours throughout the U.K., valuing various treasures and trinkets. She has been a part of the show since 2018.
However, she says things changed seemingly in a flash after her diagnosis.
“Overnight, everything had changed. Suddenly, I’d gone from being a healthy person in the middle of my life with a new baby to having incurable cancer with maybe only a year or two left to live,” Burrell said.
After being diagnosed, Burrell said she immediately underwent surgery to remove the tumor. She also had chemotherapy and radiation. She said in a recent interview since her diagnosis, she’s gone through the rigors of treatment.
“I’ve lost my hair, I’m no longer allowed to drive, and no longer able to work,” she said.
“What followed was months of surgery and treatment to try and prolong my life, and … I continue to make the best of each day,” Burrell added, saying she’s “doing quite well.”
Since her diagnosis, Burrell has become a brain cancer advocate and is focusing on the positive.
