Discovery May Help Doctors Slow Progression and Recurrence of Brain Cancer

It was long believed that tumors of the brain begin in the Glial cells or the neural stem cells. It has now been discovered that tumors can originate from other cells of the Central Nervous System, including cortical neurons. The most aggressive type of brain tumors, glioblastoma multiforme (GBS), has one of the worst prognosis of all types cancer with most patients not surviving past a year of diagnosis. The new discovery may explain the high incidence of recurrence of these tumors and possibly suggest new treatments. Treatment of this disease has been near non-exhistant due to a lack of understanding of the underlying causes. By injecting viruses with short hairpin RNA the researchers discovered that they could cause these GBS brain tumors in mice. They also pinned the mutated genes to be the NF1 and P53 genes which gives rise to cells seen in malignant gliomas by dedifferentiation. If researchers can find a way to stop the dedifferentiation of the neuroprogenitor cells they may be able to halt tumor progression, which will help decrease the high rate of reoccurrence. While the models in mice give insight into the cause of GBS, they cannot eradicate the disease but only halt tumor growth, which will increase life expectancy and quality of life.

This article was interesting to me because of the neurological aspect (which is of extreme interest to me- so much so that I am looking into specializing). I also know of two people currently living with GBS, and the insights of the new research provide hope for an increased length and quality of life for them.