Munoz Identifies Fertility Gene Driving Glioblastoma Relapse as 5% Survive Beyond 5 Years
Updated
Updated · ABC News · Jun 8
Munoz Identifies Fertility Gene Driving Glioblastoma Relapse as 5% Survive Beyond 5 Years
1 articles · Updated · ABC News · Jun 8
Summary
Nature Communications research led by Professor Lenka Munoz found a fertility gene helps a subset of glioblastoma cells survive chemotherapy, lie dormant and later regenerate the tumour.
Those drug-tolerant cells reprogram their metabolism to keep producing cholesterol, a survival mechanism that may explain why the cancer so often returns after treatment.
Glioblastoma remains especially hard to treat because surgeons cannot remove all of its diffuse growth and many drugs struggle to cross the brain's blood-brain barrier.
Average survival is 12-18 months, with only 5% of patients living beyond five years; the disease kills about 200,000 people worldwide each year, including roughly 1,000 Australians.
Researchers say the finding is still early-stage, but it adds to hopes that combining chemotherapy, immunotherapy and other approaches could eventually improve outcomes.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain cancer that often comes back after treatment, leading to poor outcomes. This is because standard therapies leave behind a tough group of cancer cells called persister cells, which survive chemotherapy and cause the tumor to regrow. Recent research has uncovered that the protein PRDM9 is crucial for the survival of these persister cells. By targeting PRDM9 and its role in helping these cells resist treatment, scientists have found a promising new way to prevent GBM from returning, offering hope for more effective therapies in the future.