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Drugs that target insulin pathways to slow or stop the growth of brain tumors are going in the right direction but appear to be on the wrong track. Using detailed computer models and experiments, researchers have found a reason to believe certain therapies that attack the insulin signaling pathway in two distinct glioblastoma cell types may be going after the wrong targets, causing mixed results in trials.
The research, which appears this month in PLoS Computational Biology, provides deeper understanding of interactions between key factors in the insulin signaling pathway that influence the growth of glioblastomas. This work is the first to establish, through a computer model, mechanisms that show why some brain tumors are insulin-sensitive while others appear to be insulin-insensitive. He said earlier experimental studies have looked at two aspects of the insulin pathway suspected of influencing glioblastomas, but they were never considered in tandem until now.Image credit: Christaras A via Creative Commons
