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Molecular Biology and Targeted Therapies of the Brain Tumors

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Dear Colleagues,

Recently, the research area of brain tumors has become much more complex, and their study is increasingly multidisciplinary, involving increasingly broad and varied health professionals. Biologists, neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons, oncologists, and radiation oncologists study and propose solutions to different aspects of these still largely unknown and incurable diseases every day.

This Special Issue is focused on the collection of papers regarding “Molecular Biology and Targeted Therapies of Brain Tumors.” It provides an effective way to communicate current knowledge about the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in brain cancer and/or to suggest new targets for possible future therapeutic interventions. Its aim is to provide ample scope for new ideas about how processes of cancer's progression to its final stage can be blocked or weakened. Therefore, papers that deal with innovative aspects in technology, molecular basic research, and clinical studies are welcome.

Dr. Alessandro Frati
Dr. Daniele Armocida
Dr. Alessandro Pesce
Guest Editors

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Keywords

brain tumors
gliomas
meningiomas
neuro-oncology
neuroradiology
neurosurgery

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15 pages, 2803 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Target Neural Differentiation (MTND) Therapeutic Cocktail to Suppress Brain Tumor

by Xiaoping Hu, Jingdun Xie, Yilin Yang, Ziyi Qiu, Weicheng Lu, Xudong Lin and Bingzhe Xu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(15), 12329; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512329 - 02 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1422

Abstract

Brain tumors have been proved challenging to treat. Here we established a Multi-Target Neural Differentiation (MTND) therapeutic cocktail to achieve effective and safe treatment of brain malignancies by targeting the important hallmarks in brain cancers: poor cell differentiation and compromised cell cycle. In-vitro and in-vivo experiments confirmed the significant therapeutic effect of our MTND therapy. Significantly improved therapeutic effects over current first-line chemo-drugs have been identified in clinical cells, with great inhibition of the growth and migration of tumor cells. Further in-vivo experiments confirmed that sustained MTND treatment showed a 73% reduction of the tumor area. MTND also induced strong expression of phenotypes associated with cell cycle exit/arrest and rapid neural reprograming from clinical glioma cells to glutamatergic and GABAergic expressing cells, which are two key neuronal types involved in many human brain functions, including learning and memory. Collectively, MTND induced multi-targeted genotypic expression changes to achieve direct neural conversion of glioma cells and controlled the cell cycle/tumorigenesis development, helping control tumor cells’ malignant proliferation and making it possible to treat brain malignant tumors effectively and safely. These encouraging results open avenues to developing new therapies for brain malignancies beyond cytotoxic agents, providing more effective medication recommendations with reduced toxicity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Biology and Targeted Therapies of the Brain Tumors)

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12 pages, 3020 KiB

Open AccessArticle

miR-3174 Is a New Tumor Suppressor MicroRNA That Inhibits Several Tumor-Promoting Genes in Glioblastoma

by Farina Hanif, Ying Zhang, Collin Dube, Myron K. Gibert, Jr., Shekhar Saha, Kadie Hudson, Pawel Marcinkiewicz, Benjamin Kefas, Fadila Guessous and Roger Abounader

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(11), 9326; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24119326 - 26 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1526

Abstract

microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the pathology of glioblastoma (GBM), which is the most malignant and most common primary malignant brain tumor. miRNAs can target multiple genes simultaneously and are considered as potential therapeutic agents or targets. This study aimed to determine the role of miR-3174 in the pathobiology of GBM using both in vitro and in vivo approaches. This is the first study deciphering the role of miR-3174 in GBM. We studied the expression of miR-3174 and found it to be downregulated in a panel of GBM cell lines, GSCs and tissues relative to astrocytes and normal brain tissue. This finding led us to hypothesize that miR-3174 has a tumor-suppressive role in GBM. Exogenous expression of miR-3174 inhibited GBM cell growth and invasion, and hampered the neurosphere formation ability of GSCs. miR-3174 downregulated the expression of multiple tumor-promoting genes including CD44, MDM2, RHOA, PLAU and CDK6. Further, overexpression of miR-3174 reduced tumor volume in nude mice with intracranial xenografts. Immuno-histochemical study of brain sections with intracranial tumor xenografts revealed the pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative activity of miR-3174. In conclusion, we demonstrated that miR-3174 has a tumor-suppressive role in GBM and could be exploited for therapeutic purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Biology and Targeted Therapies of the Brain Tumors)

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