| Project title | Proteomic Profiling of Glioblastoma: Using Protein Signatures to Define Patients With a Favourable Outcome and to Identify Protein Targets for Therapeutic Intervention |
|---|---|
Grant Amount | $68,788 |
Institution | Kolling Institute of Medical Research |
Investigator Team | Principal investigator Dr. Kerrie McDonald |
Grant Type | Fellowship |
Years | 2009 – 2010 |
Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most recalcitrant and aggressive cancers and is associated with a high mortality rate. A small group of GBM patients exhibit extraordinary survival of over 3 years after initial surgical diagnosis. These patients are coined “Long Term Survivors”.
Dr. Kerrie McDonald aims to identify and validate genes that are associated with long term survivors of GBM. To do this, she will perform microarray gene expression profiling of two cohorts of GBM patients, one of which survived <1 5 years after initial surgical diagnosis, with a group which survived 3 years.
“It’s our job to study the miracle patients and extend that success to, not just a handful, but the vast majority of patients.”
Dr. Kerrie McDonald
Progress: Final report (2010)
This project has confirmed that there are molecular features that are specific to glioblastomas of long term survivors. These molecular features are more commonly genes over-represented in the short-term survivor cohort, and thus resulting in a more malignant and aggressive phenotype associated with shorter survival.
This is the first study to show an overexpression of the genes, RDH12, exclusively to the long-term survivor patients.
This project has also confirmed a previous finding that the MGMT promoter methylation is more prevalent in the long-term survivor group. This could mean that patients with lower levels of MGMT are more responsive to alkylating chemotherapy treatment.