Dr. Takrima Haque, lab of Dr. Arezu Jahani-Asl

Researchers Find Potential New Treatment Target For Deadly Brain Cancer

Article
Brain & Nerve
Behavioral & Mental Health
+3
Contributed byKrish Tangella MD, MBAApr 27, 2016

A team of researchers has found a key player in brain tumour formation that may lead to new therapies for a deadly and incurable cancer.

The study published in Nature Neuroscience is the first to show that a protein called OSMR (Oncostatin M Receptor) is required for glioblastoma tumours to form.

Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly cancers, resistant to radiation, chemotherapy and difficult to remove with surgery.

"The fact that most patients with these brain tumours live only 16 months is just heartbreaking," said Dr. Arezu Jahani-Asl, the lead author who performed this research largely in Ottawa while she was a postdoctoral fellow co supervised by Dr. Michael Rudnicki at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa and by Dr. Azad Bonni from Harvard Medical School and Washington University School of Medicine. "Right now there is no effective treatment, and that's what drives me to study this disease." Dr. Jahani-Asl is now an assistant professor in the Department of Oncology at McGill University and a principal investigator at the Jewish General Hospital, with a laboratory dedicated to how glioblastoma develops.

The research team studied human brain tumour stem cells taken from glioblastoma patients. While it was previously believed that any cancer cell could reproduce to form a whole tumour, researchers have since learned that in brain cancer only a few kinds of cells have this ability. If a single one of these brain tumour stem cells is left behind after surgery, it can create a whole new tumour. The team found that blocking OSMR activity in these cells prevented them from forming tumours in mouse brains.

"Being able to stop tumour formation entirely was a dramatic and stunning result," said Dr. Rudnicki, senior co corresponding author of the study. "It means that this protein is a key piece of the puzzle, and could be a possible target for future treatments."

Dr. Rudnicki is the Director of the Regenerative Medicine Program at The Ottawa Hospital and a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Molecular Genetics.

When the research team looked at 339 tumour samples from human glioblastoma patients, they found that the higher the OSMR expression, the faster the patient died. This was confirmed in mouse studies, where animals injected with human brain tumour stem cells with low OSMR expression lived 30 percent longer than those infected with tumour stem cells with normal OSMR expression.

Researchers already knew that an active form of the epidermal growth factor receptor called EGFRvIII drove tumour formation in glioblastoma, but so far therapies targeting this receptor have not worked against brain cancer. Dr. Rudnicki and his team learned that EGFRvIII needs to bind with OSMR before it can send out any tumour-forming signals. This new understanding could pave the way for more effective treatments, not only for glioblastomas, but also for other cancers with highly amplified EGFR expression like breast, lung and cervical cancers.

"This study raises the exciting prospect of potential new targets for a lethal disease," said Dr. Azad Bonni, senior co-corresponding author of the study and a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Washington University.

"The next step is to find small molecules or antibodies that can shut down the protein OSMR or stop it from interacting with EGFR. But any human treatment targeting this protein is years away."



The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Ottawa Hospital Research InstituteNote: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Disclaimer: DoveMed is not responsible for the adapted accuracy of news releases posted to DoveMed by contributing universities and institutions.

Primary Resource:

Arezu Jahani-Asl, Hang Yin, Vahab D Soleimani, Takrima Haque, H Artee Luchman, Natasha C Chang, Marie-Claude Sincennes, Sidharth V Puram, Andrew M Scott, Ian A J Lorimer, Theodore J Perkins, Keith L Ligon, Samuel Weiss, Michael A Rudnicki, Azad Bonni. Control of glioblastoma tumorigenesis by feed-forward cytokine signaling.Nature Neuroscience, 2016; DOI: 10.1038/nn.4295

Was this article helpful

On the Article

Krish Tangella MD, MBA picture
Approved by

Krish Tangella MD, MBA

Pathology, Medical Editorial Board, DoveMed Team

0 Comments

Please log in to post a comment.

Related Articles

Test Your Knowledge

Asked by users

Related Centers

Loading

Related Specialties

Loading card

Related Physicians

Related Procedures

Related Resources

Join DoveHubs

and connect with fellow professionals

Related Directories

Who we are

At DoveMed, our utmost priority is your well-being. We are an online medical resource dedicated to providing you with accurate and up-to-date information on a wide range of medical topics. But we're more than just an information hub - we genuinely care about your health journey. That's why we offer a variety of products tailored for both healthcare consumers and professionals, because we believe in empowering everyone involved in the care process.
Our mission is to create a user-friendly healthcare technology portal that helps you make better decisions about your overall health and well-being. We understand that navigating the complexities of healthcare can be overwhelming, so we strive to be a reliable and compassionate companion on your path to wellness.
As an impartial and trusted online resource, we connect healthcare seekers, physicians, and hospitals in a marketplace that promotes a higher quality, easy-to-use healthcare experience. You can trust that our content is unbiased and impartial, as it is trusted by physicians, researchers, and university professors around the globe. Importantly, we are not influenced or owned by any pharmaceutical, medical, or media companies. At DoveMed, we are a group of passionate individuals who deeply care about improving health and wellness for people everywhere. Your well-being is at the heart of everything we do.

© 2023 DoveMed. All rights reserved. It is not the intention of DoveMed to provide specific medical advice. DoveMed urges its users to consult a qualified healthcare professional for diagnosis and answers to their personal medical questions. Always call 911 (or your local emergency number) if you have a medical emergency!