Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Wisconsin research team reveals novel way to treat drug-resistant brain tumor cells

The study, from the brain-tumor research lab of Dr. John Kuo, assistant professor of neurological surgery and human oncology at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, also reports success for a combination therapy that knocks out signaling of multiple members of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family in brain-cancer cells.

The late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died of GBM in 2009. People diagnosed with GBM live on average for only 15 months after diagnosis, even after undergoing aggressive surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Earlier research from Dr. Kuo and other scientists showed that GBM cancer stem cells escape current treatments and proliferate rapidly to cause tumor recurrence.

Several years ago, research suggested that a drug engineered to target EGFR signaling might work against GBM because many brain cancers carried EGFR mutations. Excessive and abnormal EGFR signaling spurs the growth of cancer cells. Although cetuximab, a monoclonal-antibody drug, was successful in clinical trials for patients with lung, colorectal, and head and neck cancers, it failed against GBM.

Research by Dr. Paul Clark, a scientist in Kuo's lab and the study's lead author, shows why. When cetuximab treatment switches off EGFR activity and should inhibit cancer-cell growth, cancer stem cells compensate by turning on two other EGFR family receptors (ERBB2 and ERBB3) and continue to grow. One of these receptors, ERBB2, is implicated in certain types of chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer. Fortunately, another novel drug already approved by the FDA, lapatinib, inhibits ERBB2 activity and signaling by multiple EGFR members.

This study shows that cancer stem-cell growth was markedly inhibited by lapatinib treatment, which results in combined knockout of multiple EGFR family members.

"This is good news, because these drugs target an important mechanism for the (GBM) cancer cells to grow so quickly and evade current therapies, and these molecularly targeted drugs are also well-tolerated by patients and have minimal side effects," Dr. Clark said.

Kuo, director of the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program at UW Health and chair of the Carbone Cancer Center brain tumor group, said that results of several brain cancer clinical trials with these novel drugs and other new strategies are pending or underway.

Susan Lampert Smith | EurekAlert!
Further information:
http://www.uwhealth.org

Im Focus: Fizzy soda water could be key to clean manufacture of flat wonder material: Graphene

Whether you call it effervescent, fizzy, or sparkling, carbonated water is making a comeback as a beverage. Aside from quenching thirst, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have discovered a new use for these "bubbly" concoctions that will have major impact on the manufacturer of the world's thinnest, flattest, and one most useful materials -- graphene.

As graphene's popularity grows as an advanced "wonder" material, the speed and quality at which it can be manufactured will be paramount. With that in mind,...

Im Focus: Exotic quantum states made from light: Physicists create optical “wells” for a super-photon

Physicists at the University of Bonn have managed to create optical hollows and more complex patterns into which the light of a Bose-Einstein condensate flows. The creation of such highly low-loss structures for light is a prerequisite for complex light circuits, such as for quantum information processing for a new generation of computers. The researchers are now presenting their results in the journal Nature Photonics.

Light particles (photons) occur as tiny, indivisible portions. Many thousands of these light portions can be merged to form a single super-photon if they are...

Im Focus: Circular RNA linked to brain function

For the first time, scientists have shown that circular RNA is linked to brain function. When a RNA molecule called Cdr1as was deleted from the genome of mice, the animals had problems filtering out unnecessary information – like patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders.

While hundreds of circular RNAs (circRNAs) are abundant in mammalian brains, one big question has remained unanswered: What are they actually good for? In the...

Im Focus: RAVAN CubeSat measures Earth's outgoing energy

An experimental small satellite has successfully collected and delivered data on a key measurement for predicting changes in Earth's climate.

The Radiometer Assessment using Vertically Aligned Nanotubes (RAVAN) CubeSat was launched into low-Earth orbit on Nov. 11, 2016, in order to test new...

Im Focus: Scientists shine new light on the “other high temperature superconductor”

A study led by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg presents evidence of the coexistence of superconductivity and “charge-density-waves” in compounds of the poorly-studied family of bismuthates. This observation opens up new perspectives for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of high-temperature superconductivity, a topic which is at the core of condensed matter research since more than 30 years. The paper by Nicoletti et al has been published in the PNAS.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, superconductivity had been observed in some metals at temperatures only a few degrees above the absolute zero (minus...