New research could lead to better therapy for patients suffering from the most lethal type of brain tumors

Nov, 2021 - By WMR

The discoveries could pave the door for fully customized care for individuals with glioblastoma multiforme. only 5% of patients with this form of brain tumor live for more than five years, and around 25% of patients live for more than a year.

A research team at the Brain Tumor Research Center of Excellence in London developed a completely new advanced research pathway, which offered fresh insights into how GBM develops in a case involving ten patients, revealing potential new targets for customized therapy. It may also aid in predicting a patient's reaction to medications now in clinical trials for other types of diseases, which would have been immensely beneficial given that the typical survival rate for this form of brain tumor is just 1 to 1.5 years.

The researchers uncovered substantial molecular variations that might be used to develop new therapies utilizing a combination of lab research and powerful analytical computer algorithms. It is a novel approach that allows for the comparing of normal cells and cancer cells from the same patient, assisting in the identification of genes involved in tumor growth. The study is especially relevant because GBM is the common cancerous brain tumor in adults. For its hostile nature, it expands widely into adjacent brain tissue, making surgical removal nearly impossible.

The team's study has demonstrated how this strategy can discover unique molecular targets for probably new treatments. The findings, for example, show how GBM tumors can affect the activity of T cells and also have revealed epigenetic modifications that could be used to assess the response to treatments currently in clinical trials. Brain tumors cause deaths in children and adults of the age of 40 years and below than any other type of cancer, although they receive just 1% of the nation's cancer research funding.