Combination treatment targeting glucose in advanced brain cancer shows promising results in preclinical study

UCLA HealthPositron emission tomography images show glioblastoma tumor glucose uptake before, left, and after treatment in mice.FINDINGSUCLA scientists have discovered a potential combination treatment for glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer in adults. The three-year study led by David Nathanson, a member of UCLA ’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that the drug combination tested in mice disrupts and exploits glucose intake, essentially cutting off the tumor’s nutrients and energy supply. This treatment then stimulates cell death pathways — which control the cancer cells’ fate — and prev ents the glioblastoma from getting bigger.The combination treatment works by manipulating sugar metabolism with the FDA-approved drug erlotinib against one of the most common genetic alterations in glioblastoma, a cell surface protein known as EGFR. The researchers found that erlotinib treatment reduces sugar uptake in the majority of glioblastomas studied, thereby creating a metabolically vulnerable state for these brain tumors. The researchers then exploited this metabolic deficiency with an experimental drug called idasanutlin, which activates a protein called p53 to promote glioblastoma cell death and stimulate tumor regression in mice. Nathanson and his team also demonstrated that positron emission tomography, or PET, imaging can predict which tumors would respond best to this combination treatment.BACKGROUNDThese findings build on previous research by N...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news