In a finding that could lead to new and effective treatment for brain tumour, scientists have discovered a pathway between deadly cancerous cells which they believe could be blocked to inhibit their growth and malignancy.
An international team of scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) at the University of California claimed that they have found a new signalling pathway between glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells — the most aggressive form of malignant glioma, or brain tumour, cells.
Reporting their findings in the journal Genes & Development, the scientists said if the GBM cells are blocked or disrupted, it could significantly slow or reduce tumour growth and malignancy — the process of getting worse. According to scientists, more than other types of cancer, GBMs are diverse assemblages of cell subtypes featuring great genetic variation.
Anti-cancer therapies that target a specific mutation or cellular pathway tend to be less effective against such tumour heterogeneity.
“These myriad genetic alterations may be one of the primary reasons why GBMs are so lethal,” said Frank Furnari, a professor of medicine at LICR and co-author of the study.
Even with maximum treatment effort, the median patient survival rate for a diagnosed GBM is nine to 12 months — a statistic that has not changed substantially in decades, he said. However, Furnari and his colleagues noted that in GBMs only a minority of tumour cells possess a mutant form of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene.