A metabolic process in cancer cells could unlock a possible treatment for glioblastoma

Key takeawaysGlioblastomas are lethal brain tumors with few treatment options and a poor prognosis for most patients.A UCLA-led team identified a genetic alteration that occurs in 60% of people who are diagnosed with glioblastoma; that mutation disrupts the cancer cells ’ metabolism.The discovery suggests that one possible approach to treat glioblastoma would be a therapy that targets the metabolic process in patients who have that genetic alteration.A study led by researchers at theUCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that targeting a metabolic process in people with a specific genetic mutation could help treat glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.The genetic alteration — a deletion in a gene called CDKN2A — is present in about 60% of people who have glioblastoma. The mutation causes changes in the way lipids are distributed in cancer cells, which in turn makes the cancer cells vulnerable to being destroyed. The discovery, published in Cancer Cell, could sugges t a path toward the development of targeted therapies that specifically target that vulnerability.“Each patient’s tumor can have a unique combination of genetic alterations,” said David Nathanson, co-senior author of the study and an associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.“Because all of these tumors are different, we need to understand how certain genetic changes can affect tumor metabolism in order to identify potential ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news