Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Mutant Tumor Behavior May Expose Weakness for Treatment
From University of California, San Diego Health Sciences
Malignant gliomas are the most common subtype of primary brain tumor – and one of the deadliest. But researchers have discovered a certain mutation that may expose a weakness to target for treatment.
The most aggressive form of malignant glioma, called a glioblastoma multiforme or GBM, has steadfastly defied advances in neurosurgery, radiation therapy and various conventional or novel drugs.
Researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, reports in the August 15 issue of Genes & Development that they have discovered a new signaling pathway between GBM cells – one that, if ultimately blocked or disrupted, could significantly slow or reduce tumor growth and malignancy.
A minority of GBM tumor cells possess a mutant form of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene. These cells drive the tumor’s rapid, deadly growth. Tumor cells with mutant EGFR secrete molecules that cause neighboring cells with wild-type EGFR to accelerate their tumorigenic growth.
This signaling pathway between GBM tumor cells was not known and presents a new and potentially promising chink in the armor of glioblastomas. “If we can inhibit or block this cellular communication, the tumor does not grow as quickly and may be more treatable,” said Frank Furnari, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine and an associate investigator at the San Diego branch of the LICR.
Researchers have already identified two molecules that appear to trigger EGFR activity on non-mutant tumor cells.
Read the full article here.
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