Study Suggests Which Glioblastoma Patients May Benefit From Drug Treatment

New trials of a drug known as dasatinib, previously approved to treat several blood cancers, tested the substance against glioblastomas to determine if the treatment was applicable. According to researchers from Mayo Clinic, in a study published in the latest online issue of the journal Molecular Oncology, the treatment did not prove to be substantially beneficial in animal testing, despite having shown potential in lab-testing phases. Dasatinib is a general Src-family kinase (SFK) inhibitor. It shuts down all members of the Src family of protein kinases, which are believed to activate proteins that essentially give tumors “legs” upon which to crawl through tissue to seek blood nutrients. During the study, the research team teased apart dasatinib’s effect on individual Src family members — Src, Fyn, Yes and Lyn — using laboratory glioblastoma cell lines and mouse models of the brain cancer. “These findings were very surprising to us for two reasons,” said the lead author of the study. “One is the difference between lab and animal findings. The other is that, together with the bad, dasatinib inhibited the good, as well. Yes promotes cancer growth, so it should be inhibited. Unexpectedly though, Lyn protects against cancer growth, and, so, it should not be deactivated by use of dasatinib.” Future research will attempt to clarify what factors in the animal studies negated the treatment, hopefully building on the potential seen in lab studies. To learn more about this study, click here.