Malignant brain tumors like glioblastoma can cause significant mortality in cancer patients. An alternative to targeting cancer cells is targeting tumor-associated astrocytes. But, their exact role in the pathogenicity of glioblastoma is yet to be studied. Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found a new method to effectively eradicate glioblastoma by targeting the glioblastoma microenvironment, consisting of tumor-associated astrocytes, in mice.
These cells were found to change the ability of immune cells to attack the tumor both directly and indirectly, thereby protecting the tumor and facilitating its growth by modulating the energy supply. It was also observed that targeting astrocytes led to the disappearance of the tumor in mice. Moreover, there were no relapse cases, which indicated that astrocytes are essential for the tumor’s survival. As the researchers engineered the…
