Dartmouth researchers identify potential therapeutic target for deadly brain cancer

Finding may help develop precision medications

2014-04-08

(Press-News.org) (Lebanon, NH, 4/8/14) Researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth will present a scientific poster on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at the American Association of Cancer Researchers conference in San Diego, CA. The research identifies a potential characteristic for predicting outcome in a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme.

Existing therapies based on genetic information have failed to effectively treat glioblastomas. Therefore, researchers are aggressively looking to find new molecular targets for this aggressive brain tumor.

Dartmouth researchers previously demonstrated that STK17A is a protein that is induced when DNA is damaged by the chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin. Biopsied samples of glioblastoma tumors contain high level of STK17A. And the more STK17A a tumor has the poorer the outcome appears to be. Increased levels of STK17A are correlated with shorter survival time for glioblastoma patients.

In addition, when researchers tried to "turn off" the STK17A protein, they observed a reduced rate of cancer cell growth. Reducing STK17A also interfered with tumor cells' ability to move around and invade other areas of the brain.

Further investigation is required to understand the precise role of STK17A in glioblastoma, but the finding may reveal a potential Achilles' Heel for this deadly type of brain tumor that often times seems unstoppable.

INFORMATION: The research was conducted through the Program of Experimental and Molecular Medicine at Dartmouth College. The research team for the project included Pingpin Mao, Mary P. Jardine, Lynne M. Niemaszyk, Eric Yang, Gilbert J. Rahme, Sarah J. Freemantle, and Michael J. Spinella.

Poster #4605, "STK17A, Implications in Glioblastoma Multiforme," will be in Hall A-E Section 34 from 1:00-5:00 pm PT on April 8, 2014 at AACR Conference.

About Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center combines advanced cancer research at Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine with patient-centered cancer care provided at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock regional locations in Manchester, Nashua, and Keene, NH, and St. Johnsbury, VT, and at 12 partner hospitals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of 41 centers nationwide to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive Cancer Center" designation. Learn more about Norris Cotton Cancer Center research, programs, and clinical trials online at cancer.dartmouth.edu.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Novel plant biotechnology approach for sustainable production of pharmaceutical compounds

2014-04-08

European scientists have made ground-breaking discoveries for improving the efficiency of the production of pharmaceuticals through plant biotechnology. Biotechnological production offers a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to the chemical synthesis of rare and complex pharmaceutical compounds currently isolated from plants. The results have been achieved in the European SmartCell project coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Several expensive anticancer alkaloid blockbusters used in chemotherapy, such as terpenoid indole alkaloids ...

New breast cancer results illustrate promise and potential of I-SPY 2 trial

2014-04-08

In an innovative clinical trial led by UC San Francisco, the experimental drug neratinib along with standard chemotherapy was found to be a beneficial treatment for some women with newly diagnosed, high-risk breast cancer. Additionally, researchers learned that an algorithm used in the adaptive, randomized trial known as I-SPY 2 was highly effective at predicting the success of the treatment regimen in the patients who have HER2-positive/HR-negative disease. The finding marks the second drug "graduation" within the I-SPY 2 trial model, which is designed to accelerate ...

Geography research could improve the effectiveness of hospital patient transport services

2014-04-08

University of Cincinnati research is offering hospitals and trauma centers a unique, accurate and scientific approach to making decisions about transporting critical-care patients by air or by ambulance. A presentation this week at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) in Tampa, Fla., highlights the research of Michael Widener, a UC assistant professor of geography, along with Zac Ginsberg, MD, Maryland Shock Trauma Center; Samuel Galvagno Jr., assistant professor, Divisions of Trauma Anesthesiology and Adult Critical Care Medicine, Maryland ...

Grandmas stay sharp when they care for grandkids once a week

2014-04-08

CLEVELAND, Ohio (April 8, 2014)—Taking care of grandkids one day a week helps keep grandmothers mentally sharp, finds a study from the Women's Healthy Aging Project study in Australia, published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). That's good news for women after menopause, when women need to lower their risks of developing Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders. On the other hand, taking care of grandchildren five days a week or more had some negative effects on tests of mental sharpness. "We know that older ...

Graphic photos on tobacco packs save lives: WHO report

2014-04-08

BEIJING, 8 April 2014 – Large, graphic health warnings on tobacco packets in China would increase awareness about the harms of smoking, help to cut smoking rates, and in doing so save lives according to global studies. These are the key findings from a new report, Tobacco health warnings in China – Evidence of effectiveness and implications for action, from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project), released today. "This new report presents a very compelling case for the introduction of large, pictorial ...

A new tiny species of crayfish from the swamps of coastal eastern Australia

2014-04-08

Hidden in one of Australia's most developed and fastest growing areas lives one of the world's smallest freshwater crayfish species. Robert B McCormack the Team Leader for the Australian Crayfish Project described the new species belonging to the genus Gramastacus, after 8 years of research in the swamps and creeks of coastal New South Wales, Australia. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Being a small crayfish species it has remained undescribed and undiscovered in one of the fastest developing regions of Australia. Only one other species of Gramastacus ...

Common diabetes treatment could extend hypoglycemia

2014-04-08

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered that a common treatment for people with type 2 diabetes could cause longer-than-normal periods of the low blood sugar reaction hypoglycemia, which may result in increased health risks to people with diabetes. The treatment is the use of the peptide GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) in combination with insulin, which is now used throughout the world as a standard therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes. A team of researchers at the University of Adelaide's School of Medicine has investigated the impact of this ...

Good provider communication improves antidepressant adherence for diabetes patients

2014-04-08

OAKLAND, Calif., April 8, 2014 — Adult patients with diabetes who trust their medical provider and feel included in treatment decisions are significantly more likely to take and maintain a newly prescribed antidepressant medication, according to a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study, conducted by researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research and the University of Washington, School of Medicine, included 1,500 patients with long-standing diabetes, who were prescribed antidepressants. "In patients with diabetes, depression has ...

Researchers measure smartphone malware infection rates

2014-04-08

There is a steady stream of news stories and announcements about how many more new strains of Android malware appear in every passing year. Data showing infection rates in the real world has been hard to come by. There is a lot of data about the number of different malware samples discovered but not so much about the extent they are actually found in the wild. If smartphones are infected to the same extent as personal computers used to be, the resulting damage would be much more severe. The few estimates that were out there vary greatly: ranging from more than 4 per ...

Scientists disagree on responsible research

2014-04-08

"We have, on the one hand, scientists who are convinced that they should be left alone in their ivory tower and that neither politicians nor the general public should interfere with their research activities. In their eyes, the key to conducting responsible science is to protect it from external interest because that will introduce harmful biases. Science should therefore be completely independent and self-regulated in order to be responsible," says communication researcher Maja Horst from the University of Copenhagen. She continues: "But, on the other hand, there are ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Tiny metal figurines from Sardinia's Nuragic civilization in around 1,000 BC reveal extensive ancient Mediterranean metal trading networks

Natural microfibers may degrade differently to synthetic materials under simulated sunlight exposure in freshwater and seawater conditions, with implications for how such pollutants affect aquatic lif

Indian new mums report better postpartum wellbeing when their own mum acts as their primary support - while women whose mother-in-law is the primary caregiver instead report significantly lower overal