Acknowledging the Milestones During Cancer Journey
“Antiques Roadshow” star Theo Burrell, 37, is nearing two years since she was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma (GBM), which is an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Burrell underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy for treatment and received regular scans to monitor her progress. Her type of cancer “grows and spreads very quickly,” according to the National Cancer Institute. The average survival rate is 15 months with treatment and less than six if left untreated.
Ongoing clinical trials are showing promise for brain cancer patients. This Spring, results in a phase 1 clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found three patients who saw major reductions in their GBM brain tumors, and one of them saw her tumor experience “near-complete tumor regression.”
Researchers made such progress using a form of CAR T-cell therapy, a cancer treatment that re-engineers the immune system to target cancer. The re-engineered cells are designed to be “directly injected into the patient’s brain” by targeting a protein often found in glioblastomas called EGFR.
Clinical trials give patients a chance to try a treatment before it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and that can potentially be life-changing.
For help finding a clinical trial that’s right for you, try SurvivorNet’s easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder.
“Antiques Roadshow” star Theo Burrell, 37, is on the verge of crossing the two-year milestone in her brain cancer journey. Her longevity is more remarkable because living with glioblastoma – an aggressive form of brain cancer – typically has an average survival rate of about 15 months with treatment.
Despite her amazing resilience, the reality TV star says she’s been experiencing increasing fatigue lately.
Burrell noted in a recent Instagram story that she’s received “stable scans,” and June 7 marks two years since she was diagnosed with the grade 4 brain tumor.
Last week, Burrell admitted she’s been going through a rough patch. Most notably, her son was dealing with chicken pox, and their family dog was sick. While trying to be as supportive as possible, Burrell was also coping with her own lingering cancer side effects.
“Trying to manage cancer fatigue alongside the ups and downs of life has been pretty difficult,” Burrell said in an Instagram post.
“My energy levels are very low, and I feel frustrated that brain cancer is affecting my ability to do simple day-to-day things,” Burrell continued.
While learning to take life’s hurdles – big and small – one day at a time, she took a moment to thank a nurse who has helped her since her diagnosis.
Burrell received a message from the nurse who was among the first to reveal her brain cancer diagnosis.
“It broke my heart the day you came to A&E. I remember trying to stay strong and not let my face tell you (the news) before the doctors got to tell you, and I will honestly never forget that day,” Burrell said of the message.
Burrell added that the nurse took her time to explain to her she had brain cancer, which meant a lot during that emotional time.
“Her kindness to me then and now and the realization that I’d impacted her life made me cry my eyes out,” Burrell explained.
“Here’s to all the incredible nurses, doctors, radiographers, and medical staff who show care and compassion to the brain tumor community. You won’t forget us, and we’ll never forget you,” Burrell said while dedicating her social media post to medical professionals.
While we do not know specific details on Burrell’s ongoing treatment, we know she underwent surgery, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. However, a remarkable clinical trial showing great promise and hope for brain cancer patients is worth added focus.
In March, early results in a phase 1 clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found three patients who saw significant reductions in their brain tumors, and one of them saw her tumor experience “near-complete tumor regression.”
Researchers made such progress using a form of CAR T-cell Therapy, a cancer treatment that re-engineers the immune system to target cancer from within.
Although the clinical trial phase for this treatment is far from complete, it presents an opportunity for further exploration of treating glioblastoma.
WATCH: The Importance of Clinical Trials
“The CAR-T platform has revolutionized how we think about treating patients with cancer, but solid tumors like glioblastoma have remained challenging to treat because not all cancer cells are exactly alike, and cells within the tumor vary. Our approach combines two forms of therapy, allowing us to treat glioblastoma in a broader, potentially more effective way,” Dr. Bryan Choi, a neurosurgeon and associate director of the Center for Brain Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy, Cellular Immunotherapy Program at Mass General Cancer Center and Department of Neurosurgery said in a news release.
“His Tumor Shrunk”
The CAR T-cell therapy doctors used during the clinical trial used a variant called CAR-TEAM.
CAR T-cell therapy works by re-engineering a patient’s immune cells into more efficient cancer fighters. The process starts with T-cells, white blood cells that help the immune system respond to threats in the body, such as germs and cancer cells.
After the T-cells are removed from a patient’s blood, doctors use an inactivated virus to insert new genes into them. The new genes carry instructions to create special proteins called receptors on the T-cell’s surface. The modified T-cells are multiplied and then given back to the patient.
WATCH: CAR T-Cell Therapy Success Rates and Ability to Improve Quality of Life
Once the re-engineered cells are re-inserted into the body, the T-cells find and attach to a matching protein called an antigen on the surface of the cancer cells.
During the clinical trial, doctors combined CAR T cell therapy with “bispecific antibodies, known as T-cell engaging antibody molecules (TEAMS).” The combined CAR T cell therapy is called CAR-TEAM. It’s designed to be “directly injected into the patient’s brain” by targeting a protein often found in glioblastomas called EGFR.
During the clinical trial, a 74-year-old man diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumor and treated with a single infusion of CAR-TEAM saw his tumor “regress rapidly.”
Another patient, a 72-year-old man, was given a single infusion of CAR-TEAM cells. After two days, his tumor shrunk in size by “18.5%,” and after 69 days, his tumor shrunk by “60.7%.” The CAR-TEAM cell treatment response lasted “over six months.”
The third patient, a 57-year-old woman, was treated with a single infusion of CAR-TEAM cells, and after five days, her tumor showed “near-complete tumor regression.”
“These results are exciting, but they are also just the beginning—they tell us that we are on the right track in pursuing a therapy that can potentially change the outlook for this intractable disease. We haven’t cured patients yet, but that is our audacious goal,” Dr. Marcela Maus, director of the Cellular Immunotherapy Program at the Mass General Cancer Center, said.
As the clinical trial continues, the team of researchers hopes to find ways to prolong the CAR-TEAM cell treatment’s effectiveness, as two of the three patients experienced a relapse after some time.
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 one must be 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.
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.
WATCH: Using electric sources to improve glioblastoma treatment.
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.
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.
Theo Burrell has been diagnosed with glioblastoma.
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.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you have been diagnosed with glioblastoma, here are some questions you may consider asking your doctor:
What stage is my brain cancer?
What are the treatment options for my brain cancer?
Am I a good candidate for temozolomide?
Am I a good candidate for Optune?
What are the risks and benefits of the recommended treatment?
What are the side effects of the recommended treatment?
How long will it take to recover from treatment, and will I be able to return to work and normal activities?
What’s the likelihood that insurance will cover the recommended treatment
