Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma as a theragnostic target for mesenchymal-type glioblastoma patients

Abstract

Brain cancer: Nuclear receptor offers diagnostic and therapeutic target A protein that helps relay signals within tumor cells provides a promising diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for the most deadly form of glioblastoma, a brain cancer. A research team in South Korea led by Myung-Jin Park from the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences in Seoul and Yangsik Jeong from Yonsei University in Wonju showed that the gene encoding a nuclear receptor protein called PPARγ is exclusively expressed in glioblastoma stem cells taken from patients with the aggressive “mesenchymal” subtype of the disease, but not in stem cells from other glioblastomas with more favorable outcomes. In cell cultures and mouse models, the researchers found that elevated levels of the nuclear receptor promote cancer growth, but activation of PPARγ, either with drugs or by genetic means, has an opposite effect and suppresses tumor proliferation.