New approach targets brain cancer stem cells

Professor Reynolds with research assistant Alicia Fawlings in the QBI Stem Cell Laboratory

A QBI neuroscientist has co-discovered a much-needed new approach to treating brain tumours.

Professor Brent Reynolds (pictured right), together with colleagues in Italy and the US, has identified a protein that dramatically inhibits brain cancer stem cells in laboratory animals.

Professor Reynolds said any treatment that inhibited the growth of brain tumours would likely lead to a better patient prognosis.

“We have discovered that the naturally occurring molecule bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP4) appears to target the cells responsible for brain tumour initiation and long-term progression,” Professor Reynolds said.

The international team found that the BMP4 protein inhibited tumour growth and extended the life of mice implanted with cells from a human brain tumour. Animals that received a placebo in place of BMP4 died within three months.

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