A protein that helps glioblastoma stem cells keep growing
Original title: E2F6 promotes glioblastoma stem cell self-renewal by repressing DUSP1 expression.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was done on cells in a lab, not in people. It is a very early step.
This was only done in cells and in mice.
The short version
In lab and mouse tests, lowering one protein slowed glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary and helped chemo work.
What was studied. Researchers looked at glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary tissue and at glioblastoma stem cells, the cells that help tumors come back. They raised and lowered a protein called E2F6 in these cells and in mice with brain tumors.
What they found. E2F6 was high in glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary tissue and in the tumor stem cells. More of it made these stem cells grow and renew faster. Less of it did the opposite. In mice, lowering E2F6 slowed the tumors and helped the chemo drug temozolomide: A chemotherapy taken as a capsule, used for some brain tumors. Your team checks your blood counts while you are on it. See the glossary work better. Those mice also lived longer.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This points to a possible new target for future glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary drugs. It may also help explain why some tumors stop responding to chemo. No drug aimed at this target is available to patients.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a new treatment. The work was done in cells and in mice, not in people. No one has tried this in a patient. It is not a cure, and it does not change care today. Many years of testing would have to come first, and most lab findings do not make it that far.
Source: PubMed, October 23, 2026 · Read the original
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