How Brain Cancer Cells Hide from Drugs

A study recently published in an online issue of Science reported the discovery of a biological mechanism that results in resistance to drugs targeted to fight glioblastoma. The drugs are designed to find and kill glioblastoma cells by targeting telltale mutations on the cell surface that accelerate tumor growth, but researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that the tumor cells are able to eliminate the gene mutation, essentially removing the target while the drug is present and allowing the tumor to become drug-resistant. However, the researchers also discovered that after the drug is removed, the tumor cells reacquire the gene mutation, or oncogene, that helps the tumor cells grow more robustly. “Now that we know that tumor cells have the surprising capacity to lose this oncogene during treatment and then reverse the process after drug removal, we may be able to exploit this phenomenon in the clinic,” first author David Nathanson said. Click here to read the full article.