Master genes found for aggressive brain cancer

Glioblastoma multiforme is one of the most aggressive froms of brain cancer, rapidly producing inoperable tumours.

Antonio Iavarone and a team from Columbia University have found two genes, C/EPB and Stat3, are active in about 60% of glioblastoma patients. When either works on its own there is little impact.

But according to Iavarone “When simultaneously activated, they work together to turn on hundreds of other genes that transform brain cells into highly aggressive, migratory cells. The finding means that suppressing both genes simultaneously, using a combination of drugs, may be a powerful therapeutic approach for these patients, for whom no satisfactory treatment exists.”

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