When NFKBIA is deleted, certain biochemical processes occur with striking similarity to an onslaught of glioblastoma, which often results in an adaptation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). At least one-third of glioblastomas are associated with gene-coding abnormalities for EGFR, which include an excess of duplicate copies or a sport that causes the receptor to ever be "on," even when it is not affected by outside factors. This aberration is part of why glioblastoma is so malignant, as it causes tumors to rapidly spread and even rapidly regenerate after surgical removal. Survival can be extended by chemotherapy and radiation but usually by only an average of 18 months. "It`s been known for 25 years that EGFR plays a character in glioblastoma as well as many other cancers and that this element is aberrantly activated in glioblastoma," lead investigator and visiting associate professor at Stanford, associate professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and neuro-oncology professor at Germany`s University of Freiburg, Markus Bredel, M.D. Ph.D. was quoted as saying. "We asked ourselves, what causes the mass of glioblastomas that don`t get this break?" The researchers had previously observed that cancer patients with low NFKBIA expression were resistant to chemotherapeutic temozolomide treatments. This finding, as well as information gathered from other types of tumors, led the researchers to encourage research NFKBIA. NFKBIA problems have been linked to many cancers such as Hodgkin`s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and melanoma as well as breast, colon and lung cancer but own not been linked to glioblastoma until now. The researchers took hundreds of tumor samples from glioblastoma patients who had been treated at various clinics between the years of 1989 and 2009. Out of all of these samples, NFKBIA deletions were found in a whopping 25 percent. Their findings regarding EGFR were also confirmed by the study, as EGFR gene aberrations were present in one-third of the samples. It was rare that both of these genetic defects were present in one patient`s tumor, but taken together, they accomplished a mass of all glioblastomas observed. Patients whose tumors had either one of the defects had a lower survival rate, even after extensive therapy, compared to patients whose tumors did not have genetic defects. NFKBIA and EGFR defects also take a molecule called NF-kappa-B, which is a "transcription factor" present in all cells. In cancer cells, NF-kappa-B can stimulate proliferation and a resistance to natural cell death and are often excited by biochemical signals transmitted by overworking or mass-produced EGFR. This NF-kappa-B stimulation causes cancer cells to resist temozolomide treatments. NFKBIA works differently. When deleted, it interrupts a binding process between NF-kappa-B and an NF-kappa-B inhibiting protein called I-kappa-B, thus allowing it to go into the meat and alter gene expression. This causes NF-kappa-B to act in the same exact manner as seen with EGFR. The researchers made their discoveries after growing glioblastoma cells and testing them with various methods to get the process of I-kappa-B in the cells. When cells with EGFR hyperactivity or NFKBIA deletion were tested, normal cell behavior and appearance was achieved, and the cells were thus less likely to resist temozolomide. "If we can see that a patient`s glioblastoma has the NFKBIA deletion, we can put that tumor for treatment with drugs that stabilize I-kappa-B, NFKBIA`s protein product," Bredel was quoted as saying. The researchers are currently working to have an inexpensive, quick and honest method to identify NFKBIA deletion.Source: Stanford University Medical CenterMissing Gene: A Cause for Common Brain Cancer? | Medical News and Health Information
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