Brain Cancers Achilles’ Heel Is A Protein
Medicos at Washington University in St. Louis have found a direct way to attack some of the most stubborn brain cancers known.
A research team working at the university's School of Medicine and at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital regulated levels of a protein called CDC20 in tumor stem cells to find it can control tumor growth. The regulating protein controls levels of another protein called SOX2 which directly influences tumor growth. SOX2 is essential for tumor survival.
"This discovery may help us attack the root of some of the deadliest brain tumors. A successful brain cancer treatment will very likely require blocking the tumor stem cells' ability to survive and replenish," said senior author Albert H. Kim. The team's findings were published in the journal Cell Reports.
Mice studies involving transplanted tumor cells showed that lowering CDC20 levels could drastically restrict tumor growth. Cancers like glioblastoma are difficult to treat, leaving patients in advance stages with less than 15 months survival period.
"These tumor stem cells are really the kingpins of cancers - the cells that direct and drive much of the harm done by tumors, The rate of growth in some tumors lacking CDC20 dropped by 95 percent compared with tumors with more typical levels of CDC20," Kim said.
Kim and his team are now various exploring ways including RNA interference, to block CDC20 in tumors in human brain.
