Scientists studying glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor in adults, have discovered a new way of analyzing diseased and healthy cells from the same patient. The team, from Queen Mary University in London, published their results in Nature Communications.
“We have used this powerful technique to identify changes in the function of genes that occur in GBM that do not entail a change in the genetic code (epigenetics). This has revealed new insights for how GBM develops and identifying potential new targets for individualized treatments,” said lead researcher Silvia Marino.
By using a combination of laboratory work and analytical computer programs, the team identified significant molecular differences which could be exploited to develop new treatments. It is an innovative approach enabling the comparison of normal and malignant cells from the same patient helping to identify genes that play a role in the growth of the tumor.
“There is strong evidence that GBM cells develop from neural stem cells but previous studies have not been able to compare tumor cells and their putative cell of origin from the same person,” researcher Hugh Adams said. “The team harnessed state-of-the-art stem cell technologies and next-generation DNA sequencing methods to compare diseased and healthy cells from the same patient. Their results have shown how this approach can reveal novel molecular events that appear to go awry when GBM develops, thereby identifying targets for potential new treatments.”
The results of the team’s work have shown how this approach can reveal novel molecular targets for potential new treatments. For example, the results reveal how some GBM tumors can control the movement of regulatory T cells, a type of immune cell, and has also revealed epigenetic changes that could be used to predict the response to drugs currently in clinical use.