Cholesterol could be key target in fight against glioblastoma

Researchers from Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and The Scripps Research Institute (both CA, USA) have identified a metabolic vulnerability in one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, glioblastoma (GBM), that could be targeted in novel therapies. The new study, published in Cancer Cell, demonstrates that GBM cells import large quantities of cholesterol to survive and that these importing mechanisms could be effectively targeted with drugs that are currently in clinical development. Previous research has extensively characterized the GBM genome and oncogenes; however, many of the targeted therapies tested thus far are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier and...