Moffitt Cancer Center researchers identify novel metabolic programs driving aggressive brain tumors

Prognostic value and personalized therapy may result from study

2012-11-09

(Press-News.org) Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have identified metabolic signatures that may pave the way for personalized therapy in glioma, a type of tumor that starts in the brain.

The study appears online in the October issue of Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.

According to the authors, little has been known about the underlying metabolic alterations that may drive the growth of the most aggressive type of glioma, termed glioblastoma.

"For the first time, we have described global metabolomic signatures in glioma," said study corresponding author Prakash Chinnaiyan, M.D., an assistant member in Moffitt's Experimental Therapeutics Program. "This use of metabolomics, which is the global quantitative assessment of metabolites within a biological system, has enabled us to identify some of the central metabolic pathways that allow for these tumors to grow. Our findings provide a unique insight into the underlying biology of glioma and appear to have prognostic significance."

The metabolic studies were carried out at Metabolon Inc. of Durham, N.C., using a nontargeted platform that enabled quantitative analysis of a broad spectrum of molecules.

The established approach for both understanding and treating cancer has largely been genotype based. Unfortunately, clinical gains offered by this level of understanding have been limited, largely based on the complex nature of signaling pathways associated with tumor growth and the inability to delineate the key functional signaling pathways driving growth in an individual tumor.

Chinnaiyan added that although cancers have access to a variety of such pathways, there are a limited number of metabolic strategies they can employ.

"Simply put, with regards to tumor growth, there are several means to the same end. Rather than studying and targeting the means, tumor metabolism represents the end consequence of these aberrant signaling pathways," Chinnaiyan said.

More study will be required to determine the relative importance of these and other metabolic pathways in subtype designation and their overall influence on malignant glioma metabolism. The research team wrote "understanding the glioma metabolome offers the potential for several levels of clinical application, including the possibilities for prognostication and opportunities for personalizing treatment to an individual tumor's metabolic phenotype."

###This research was supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, National Functional Genomics Center project (W81XWH-08-2-0101), the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, and the American Cancer Society (RSG-11-029-01-CSM).

About Moffitt Cancer Center Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.

Media release by Florida Science Communications

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Considerable added benefit of ipilimumab in advanced melanoma

2012-11-09

The humanized antibody ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy®) has been approved since August 2011 for the treatment of adult patients with advanced melanoma (black skin cancer) who have already been treated. The term "advanced" means that the melanoma can no longer be removed by an operation or that metastases have formed. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has examined the added benefit of the drug pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG). According to the findings, the drug offers major advantages with ...

University of Huddersfield physicist investigates the Big Bang particle

2012-11-09

Scientists at the University of Huddersfield are collaborating with experts at some of the world's leading research institutes in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of a particle that played a role in the creation of the universe. The existence of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos – particles that are almost massless and which travel at light speed from one side of the earth to the other – was confirmed more than 50 years ago. Scientists believe that they were created at the Big Bang and might hold the key to the nature of the universe. But they are light particles that ...

Vandetanib in thyroid cancer: No proof of added benefit

2012-11-09

Vandetanib (trade name Caprelsa®) has been approved in Germany since February 2012 for adult patients suffering from a particular form of aggressive thyroid cancer. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now examined the added benefit of the drug pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG). According to the findings, there is no proof of added benefit, because no data on patient-relevant outcomes for those patients for whom the drug is approved were presented by the drug manufacturer in its dossier. ...

UGR and Michael J. Fox Foundation take a step forward in the study of Parkinson's disease

2012-11-09

This press release is available in Spanish. During the past year, the research group TIC 218 at the Department of Signal Theory, Telematics and Communications attached to the University of Granada and the Andalusian Information Technology and Communications Center (CITIC) has implemented the methods for the detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, within the PPMI initiative of the Michael J. Fox foundation for the study of Parkinson's disease. In addition, other databases were used such as that of the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital, Málaga, Spain, and Virgen de ...

CHOP experts describe research in pediatric heart disease

2012-11-09

Physician-researchers from the Cardiac Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia presented new findings on pediatric cardiovascular disease at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012 in Los Angeles. They described racial disparities in risk factors for sudden cardiac death, imaging modalities and novel approaches to assessing cardiac anomalies, ventricular assist device use, special considerations in syndromes in adult congenital heart disease, changes in immunosuppressive drugs after pediatric heart transplant, and many other topics. Children's ...

Cool pavements, warm buildings, rising electricity bills

2012-11-09

A push to replace old, heat-trapping paving materials with new, cooler materials could actually lead to higher electricity bills for surrounding buildings, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found. Researchers published their findings Oct. 29 in the new Journal of Urban Climate. The new paving materials are designed to lower the overall temperature of the areas where they are used—something that the study, which was focused on local solar radiation and energy consumption, was not designed to measure. The study sounds a note of caution at a time ...

Stem cell scientists discover potential way to expand cells for use with patients

2012-11-09

(TORONTO, Canada – Nov. 8, 2012) – Canadian and Italian stem cell researchers have discovered a new "master control gene" for human blood stem cells and found that manipulating its levels could potentially create a way to expand these cells for clinical use. The findings, published today online ahead of print in Cell Stem Cell, usher in a new paradigm for the regulation of human blood stem cells, says co-principal investigator Dr. John Dick, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology and is a Senior Scientist at University Health Network's McEwen Centre for ...

Intensive farming with a climate-friendly touch: Farming/woodland mix increases yields

2012-11-09

This press release is available in Spanish and Portuguese. Each year, huge carbon stores are lost as a result of deforestation. In South America, around four million hectares of forest are cut down every year. As a result, international climate protection programs are planning to financially compensate farmers who preserve forests or plant new trees. Demand for land is rising, however. And growing need for food and energy crops will inevitably lead to conflicts of interest over fertile land in countries such as Brazil and Ecuador. Thomas Knoke and Michael Weber at Technische ...

Sweet new approach discovered to help produce metal casting parts, reduce toxicity

2012-11-09

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Based on a new discovery by researchers at Oregon State University, the world's multi-billion dollar foundry industry may soon develop a sweet tooth. This industry, that produces metal castings used in everything from water pumps and jet engines to railroad and automobile parts, dates back thousands of years to before Greek and Roman times. It was important in the advance of human civilization, but still continues to evolve. Some modern technologies use various types of "binders" to essentially glue together sands and other materials to form sophisticated ...

Preschoolers' counting abilities relate to future math performance, researcher says

2012-11-09

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Along with reciting the days of the week and the alphabet, adults often practice reciting numbers with young children. Now, new research from the University of Missouri suggests reciting numbers is not enough to prepare children for math success in elementary school. The research indicates that counting, which requires assigning numerical values to objects in chronological order, is more important for helping preschoolers acquire math skills. "Reciting means saying the numbers from memory in chronological order, whereas counting involves understanding ...

NRG Oncology opens new “ARCHER” clinical trial (NRG-GU015) testing a shorter treatment duration of radiation therapy for muscle invasive bladder cancer

High-oxygen vacancy cerium catalysts with NiFe alloy heterostructures: A pathway to efficient and stable biomass ethanol fuel tubular solid oxide fuel cells

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers identify novel metabolic programs driving aggressive brain tumors

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: