IISc researchers find new way to treat advanced brain cancer

A recent IISc research has identified a molecule generated by brain cancer cells, which could be targeted to cure Glioblastoma, an advanced type of cancer.

The finding has implications in developing new drugs to better treat the cancer arising from the brain’s glial cells. Glioblastoma is the second most common cancer among children and is in the top 10 cancers to affect adults. It usually recurs after traditional treatment with low survival rates.

Gliomas are tumours with two types of cells — a small number of ‘stem cells’ that start the tumour, which then creates ‘bulk cells’ around.

While recent research has focused on stem cells that actually trigger the tumour, IISc research looked at the bulk cells and found them generating the molecule FMOD in large amounts. FMOD interacts with the endothelial cells in the patient’s body promoting growth of large blood vessels nourishing the tumour.

Further experiments in mice showed choking FMOD secretion from the bulk cells will stop glial tumours from growing and they even shrink.

“Tumour requires a lot of nutrients to grow. When the bulk cells don’t secrete FMOD, nutrient supply to the tumour is stopped, and the cells can’t divide enough,” says Shreoshi Sengupta of IISc’s Microbiology and Cell Biology Department, who conducted the research. “So, the tumour can’t grow in volume and over time the cells die. We found that at least a large proportion of bulk cells were destroyed.”

The study was published this June in the journal eLife.

Traditional cancer treatments like surgery and chemotherapy have limitations and side effects. So, research is instead happening on ‘targeted therapies — drugs that target specific molecules in the patient. These treatments are often used alongside traditional therapies, bolstering treatment efficacy.

The new finding can be used to develop therapies that target FMOD in patients who have high levels of this molecule, Dr Kumaravel Somasundaram, who supervised the research, said. “The study also shows that it’s important to target molecules generated by not just the cancer stem cells, but also bulk cells,” he said.