The median survival time for glioblastoma is 12 to 14 months, and less than 7% of patients survive more than five years. This mandates better treatments and strategies for the disease.
One of the widely used biomarkers of neuroinflammation is a specific protein called translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO). The study shows that there is a connection between TSPO and worse survival outcomes in male glioblastoma patients.
“I’ve studied TSPO for more than 20 years and knew that it was highly expressed in glioblastomas. This outstanding research team is beginning to uncover its role in one of the deadliest cancers. We hope this research will lead to finding better treatments and, one day, a cure,” says Toms Guilarte, scientist, professor, and dean of Stempel College, who was a senior author of the study.
Glioblastoma and Neuroinflammatory Protein
To further investigate the sex differences in glioblastoma, and establish a correlation between the TSPO polymorphic variant rs6971, the study team analyzed the blood samples of 441 glioblastoma males and female patients.
It was found that males with the TSPO variant had shorter overall and progression-free survival times when compared with female glioblastoma patients.
The study thereby uncovers a new link for bringing both the scientific and medical community closer to understanding the reason behind the deadliest nature of glioblastoma in males than females.
“We have been thinking about sex differences in glioblastoma in terms of immune responses and this collaborative study provides an unexpected example of a polymorphism that shows a sex difference, suggesting that there are likely others that function in a similar manner. This is an exciting new direction and will be the focus of future studies,” says Justin D. Lathia, vice-chair of the Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute and one of the study’s senior authors.
Source: Medindia
