Epigenetic Mechanism Behind The Most Malignant Of All Brain Tumours
Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 19:28
in Health & Medicine
Glioblastoma (GBM), the brain cancer better known for having killed Senator Ted Kennedy a few months ago, is the most aggressive and lethal of all brain tumours. But a collaboration between researchers from the University of Minho in Portugal, and the University of California-San Francisco, has found new reasons to be optimist. Their research, published in the journal Cancer Research(1), reveals that activation of a gene called HOXA9 is linked to GBM severity – the more activated HOXA9 is, the more aggressive is the tumour. The good news is that this activation can be reverted. This is possible because it is, not the result of a mutation, but an epigenetic change. read more