Blocking cholesterol may combat brain tumors

Glioblastomas, the most aggressive and difficult to treat tumors, are fueled by the low-density liposome (LDL) or bad cholesterol levels in the body, researchers say. The LDL levels are allegedly high in obese individuals.

The study
The study, published online this week in the journal Cancer Discovery, found that the mutated epidermal growth-factor receptor (EGFRvIII), regulats the cells’ receptor facilitating the entry of cholesterol into cancer cells.

This LDL fuels growth in tumor and also failitates its survival.

Laboratory analysis of brain tumor cells in animals and humans show that “tumor cells depend on large amounts of cholesterol for growth and survival, and that pharmacologically depriving tumor cells of cholesterol may offer a novel therapeutic strategy to treat glioblastoma,” lead author of the study and assistant professor of radiation oncology at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Centre (OSUCCC), Dr Deliang Guo, said.

New treatment on the anvil
Findings reveal that when another receptor, the nuclear Liver X Receptor is activated using drugs, it in turn activates the cellular cholesterol regulator, ABCA1 protein pump.

This makes the cholesterol flow out of the cancer cells, eventually starving the tumor cells off cholesterol thus leading to tumor cell death.

"Overall, our findings suggest that the development of drugs to target this pathway may lead to significantly more effective treatments for patients with this lethal form of brain cancer," said Dr Paul S. Mischel, lead investigator and professor of pathology at the Jonsson Cancer Centre at the University of California Los Angeles.

The findings show that “the mutant EGFR hijacks this system, enabling cancer cells to import large amounts of cholesterol through the LDL receptor,” Mischel said.

Furthermore, the study “identifies the LDL receptor as a key regulator of cancer cell growth and survival, and as a potential drug target.”