Monday, January 11, 2016
Scientists Find Key Driver for Treatment of Deadly Brain Cancer
Glioblastoma multiforme is a particularly deadly cancer. A person diagnosed with this type of brain tumor typically survives 15 months, if given the best care. The late Senator Ted Kennedy succumbed to this disease in just over a year.
But scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a key to how these tumor cells proliferate so quickly --and ways to turn this engine of tumor growth into a target for cancer treatment.
"This is a disease for which there has been practically no improvement in treatment outcome for years," said Inder Verma, professor in the Salk Institute's Laboratory of Genetics and senior author of the paper published January 8, 2016 in the journal Science Advances. . .
The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. . .