Brain Cancer Growth Halted by Absence of Protein

Experiments by a team of NIH-funded scientists suggests a potential method for halting the expansion of certain brain tumors. Credit: Image courtesy of Michelle Monje, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University

The growth of certain aggressive brain tumors can be halted by cutting off their access to a signaling molecule produced by the brain’s nerve cells, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. When the signaling molecule neuroligin-3 was absent, or when its signal was interrupted with medication, human cancers called high-grade gliomas could not spread in the brains of mice, the researchers found.

“We thought that when we put glioma cells into a mouse brain that was neuroligin-3 deficient, that might decrease tumor growth to some measurable extent. What we found was really startling to us: For several months, these brain tumors simply didn’t grow,” said Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology and senior author of the study. The findings suggest that interrupting the neuroligin-3 signal could be a helpful strategy for controlling high-grade gliomas in human patients, Monje added.

High-grade gliomas are a group of deadly brain tumors that include adult glioblastoma, the brain cancer now affecting U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona; anaplastic oligodendroglioma; pediatric glioblastoma; and a pediatric tumor called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. Five-year survival rates are 60% for anaplastic oligodendroglioma, around 10% for adult and pediatric glioblastomas and virtually nonexistent for DIPG. New treatments are urgently needed.

The new findings build on prior research published by Monje’s team in 2015. At that time, the scientists showed that neuroligin-3 fueled the growth of high-grade gliomas. This was surprising because the protein is a part of the normal machinery of neuroplasticity in a healthy brain, and it is a relatively new concept that cancer can hijack an organ’s healthy function to drive cancer growth. http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/09/brain-cancer-growth-halted-by-absence-of-protein.html