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Cancer

Keeping it real to kill glioblastoma

Nature volume 547, pages 291–292 (2017)Cite this article

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The results of in vitro and in vivo screens to identify genes that are essential for the survival of a type of brain cancer show almost no overlap, underlining the need for caution when interpreting in vitro studies. See Letter p355.

Glioblastoma is the most deadly form of brain cancer in adults, and is responsible for more than 12,000 brain-tumour diagnoses in the United States each year1. Extensive characterization of its molecular basis, largely made possible through massive genomic studies2,3, has provided a comprehensive understanding of the cancer-causing genes and aberrant pathways that underlie glioblastoma development, relapse and resistance. But putative therapies that target these genes and pathways have shown little efficacy in clinical trials4, motivating investigation of alternative targets. On page 355, Miller et al.5 report results from an elegant, systematic screen, which aimed to identify therapeutic targets for glioblastoma that regulate the epigenome — a collection of heritable chemical modifications that control gene activity without altering the underlying DNA sequence.

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Figure 1: Parallel screens for essential genes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, 38105, Tennessee, USA

    Paul A. Northcott

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  1. Paul A. Northcott
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Correspondence to Paul A. Northcott.

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Northcott, P. Keeping it real to kill glioblastoma. Nature 547, 291–292 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23095

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