Human brain tumors are evaluated in a tissue culture environment as to their basic biological behavior, their response to chemotherapeutic agents and the detailed immunological interactions between the host and the tumor. A primary goal is to improve the therapy of patients by understanding the basic cellular biology of malignant human brain tumors. SNB has continued the biological characterization program with the inclusion of flow cytometry, karyotyping, glial fibrillary acid protein, fibronectin, S-100 and Factor VIII assays, DNA repair, adrenergic and other receptor assays, ganglioside and glycoprotein assays, cloning techniques, in-depth neuropathological studies, and automatic image analysis; utilized both aqueous and surface chemotherapy assays to test several new potential antiglioma agents and initiated a prospective in vitro selection of clinical trials with these agents; carried out protocols with AZQ and platinum derivatives; defined the basis of cellular sensitivity or resistance to nitrosoureas; characterized the humoral cellular immunological response to gliomas; and carried out correlative cellular and PET scan glucose metabolic studies.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter