Glioblastoma is a aggressive malignant brain tumor which leaves little chance for patients, who survive on average 14 months after diagnosis. This type of cancer accounts for about half of all brain tumors and affects about 2 to 3 in 100,000 people.
Even after treatment with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, the prognosis is rarely positive because glioblastoma does not respond well to treatment current.
Due to the position of the tumor in the brain, it is virtually impossible to remove all cancerous tissue, even surgically. Associated tumors continue to grow rapidly and easily migrate to nearby areas of brain tissue, making relapse inevitable.
3 protective genes and 5 destructive genes
A team of researchers from Shenyang University in China has set out to research the role of genetics and immunity in this variant of cancer. For other types of cancer, drugs improve the ability of the immune system to fight cancer cells. But for glioblastoma, no drug is able to boost the immune system.
The researchers examined brain tissue from 297 people with brain cancer, including 127 people with glioblastoma. After this screening, they identified 8 genes that would play an important role in glioblastoma. Three of these genes have a protective role while the other 5 increase the risk of dying prematurely. The researchers were thus able to construct a kind of genetic signature that allows patients to be divided into a ‘high risk group’ and ‘lower risk group’.
In this study, the high-risk group survived an average of 348 days after diagnosis, while the low-risk group survived an average of 493 days.
This study was published in the May 25 online edition of the journal Neurology.
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