Potential New Target To Counteract Brain Tumor Resistance To Therapy
Persistent protein expression may explain why tumors return after therapy in glioblastoma patients, according to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Current therapy for glioblastoma, the most prevalent malignant brain tumor in adults, includes targeting a protein called VEGF, which promotes the growth of blood vessels to the tumor. Unfortunately, in most glioblastoma patients treated with anti-VEGF drugs, tumors return shortly after treatment. Through an international collaboration, Jiri Bartek, Jeremy Rich, and colleagues now show that these recurring tumors express a perpetually activated form of the VEGF receptor.
Potential New Therapeutic Target For A Subset Of Aggressive Breast Cancers
The main cause of death in women with breast cancer is spread of the original tumor to distant sites, a process known as metastasis. New therapeutic targets are urgently needed. A team of researchers led by Stefan Offermanns and Thomas Worzfeld, at the Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany, has now generated data in mice and humans that suggest that the protein Plexin-B1 represents a new candidate therapeutic target to treat patients with breast cancer found to overexpress the molecule ErbB-2.
Combination Therapy May Fight Cancer Better
According to a study published February 29, online in the journal PLoS One, cancer cells appear to be protected from "cell-suicide" by a molecule found at elevated levels in the cancer cells. Normally "cell-suicide" is activated by radiation or chemotherapy. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. First author on the report is Marianna Halasi, a UIC graduate student in biochemistry and molecular genetics.