Unexpected Link Between Gliomas, Neurodegenerative Disorders Revealed

Protein TAU is expressed in glioma cells, especially in those glioma patients with better prognoses, according to a new study done on mouse models and human brain tumor tissues, published in Science Translational Medicine.

Patients with glioma are given a better prognosis when their tumor expresses a mutation in a gene called isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1). In this international collaborative study led by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-UFIEC in Madrid, Spain, those IDHI mutations stimulated the expression of TAU.

‘TAU, associated with neurodegenerative diseases, is epigenetically controlled by the balance between normal and mutant IDH1/2 in mouse and human gliomas. So, it's levels could be used as a biomarker for tumor progression in mutant IDH1/2 gliomas.’

Then, the presence of TAU acted as a brake for the formation of new blood vessels, which are necessary for the aggressive behavior of the tumors.

"We report that the levels of microtubule-associated protein TAU, which have been associated with neurodegenerative diseases, are epigenetically controlled by the balance between normal and mutant IDH1/2 in mouse and human gliomas," says co-author Maria G. Castro, Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery and cell and developmental biology at Michigan Medicine.

"In IDH1/2 mutant tumors, we found that expression levels of TAU decreased with tumor progression."

That means levels of TAU could be used as a biomarker for tumor progression in mutant IDH1/2 gliomas, Castro says.

Her team, funded by the National Institutes of Health, collaborated with lead and senior study authors at the Centro de Biolog�a Molecular "Severo Ochoa" and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-UFIEC, both in Madrid. Those researchers are funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC).

Source: Newswise