News Releases & Research Results A promising therapeutic approach for gliomas as extremely refractory tumors, ― Identification of the mechanism by which an epigenetic modifying enzyme induces the formation of gliomas ―

Results of collaborative research and development led by Professor Yutaka Kondo and Assistant Professor Keiko Shinjo of the Division of Cancer Biology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, and Associate Professor Atsushi Natsume, and Assistant Professor Fumiharu Ohka of the Department of Neurosurgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine.

• A mouse model that develops a low-grade glioma without IDH mutations (MADM mouse model) was created. The analyses of abnormal cells prior to tumorigenesis and tumor cells revealed that EZH2, an epigenetic modifying enzyme, was essential for tumor formation.
• It was confirmed that giving EZH2 inhibitors to the mouse can reduce the enlargement of the tumor, and that the EZH2 inhibitors also suppress the proliferation of cell lines in a low-grade glioma without human IDH mutations.
• For the first time, it was suggested that EZH2 inhibitors can be used for effective precision medicine in patients with tumors with specific gene abnormalities.

This research and development was conducted with the support of the program “Targeting epigenetic regulator to modulate cancer cell differentiation” of the Project for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Evolution (P-CREATE) from AMED.

The results of research and development were published in the online version of Cancer Research on August 20, the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Ohka F, et al. Pathogenic Epigenetic Consequences of Genetic Alterations in IDH-wild-type Diffuse Astrocytic Gliomas, Cancer Research
DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-1272