Canadian researchers may pave the way for more effective treatment of an aggressive and deadly type of brain tumor, known as ETMR/ETANTR. The tumor, which is seen only in children under four, is almost always fatal, despite aggressive treatment. The study proposes a new model for how this brain tumor develops and suggests possible targets to investigate for novel therapies. Scientists produced “genomic” profiles of the ETMR/ETANTR tumors, and also integrated and analyzed data from five massive publicly available data sets. Their analysis suggested that, in patients with ETMR/ETANTR, a developmental pathway – a process involved in the early formation of an organ in an embryo – is somehow “hijacked.” As a result, patients produce a specific form of an enzyme known as DNMT3B far later in development and in far greater quantities than normal. From a clinical point of view, the results of this study suggest DNMT3B may be a suitable target for future therapies designed to combat ETMR/ETANTR.
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