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Computer Modeling Leads to New Drug Strategy to Target Tumor Growth

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive form of primary brain tumors. Studies have shown that patients who are obese, diabetic, or both have the highest incidence of glioblastomas, the deadliest form of cancer and one that has proven nearly unbeatable. Through detailed computer models and experiments on two distinct glioblastoma cell types, the Rice University lab of bioengineer Amina Qutub has found reason to believe therapies that attack the insulin signaling pathway thought to influence tumor development have had mixed results in trials because they go after the wrong targets. The research provides deeper understanding of interactions between key factors in the insulin signaling pathway that influence the growth of glioblastomas. The team's work is the first to establish mechanisms that show why some brain tumors are insulin-sensitive while others appear to be insulin-insensitive.

Topics:
Computers Drug Delivery Electronics & Computers Medical Software

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    Transcript

    00:00:09 glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive form of primary brain tumors and it makes up more than 50 of all primary brain tumors the median survival is very poor for all these patients and it's less than one year previous researchers have found that obese and diabetic gluoblastoma patients have poor survival as compared to their

    00:00:32 normal weight and non-diabetic counterparts this has been thought to be driven by the insulin signaling pathway and this is why we've looked at it glioblastoma and particulates most deadly adult brain tumors environment is is thought potentially to play a role metabolism plays a huge role and that's

    00:00:50 really the focus of coward's study the idea is that these tumors are using insulin signaling pathways very differently than healthy tissue do and while they've been this pathway has been looked at in prior drug studies they've been drugs that have been developed they've really been targeting

    00:01:09 the wrong molecules or the wrong interactions of molecules and so this project looks at uncovering a particular pathway which is a novel one and we use mathematical modeling to show how by blocking this pathway you can significantly decrease glioma growth where prior studies have focused on different aspects of the

    00:01:34 same pathway through my work at rice university i've been able to promote my research at different conferences focus on insulin signaling and glioblastoma at a recent conference there was a person who came up to me at the end of my poster session and then he really wanted to know more about insulin signal angloblastoma this was

    00:01:55 because his father actually is a glioblastoma patient unfortunately i was not able to tell him the best cure we have available right now as there is no cure however i was able to give him a glimpse of hope to point him to that insulin signaling and this part of the

    00:02:15 pathway was the one that is really driving the growth of glioblastoma so this is this opens a new avenue where future therapies can look into this direction for more cures for glioblastoma