Photo: Anat Erdreich-Epstein, M.D., Ph.D.
Anat Erdreich-Epstein, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, was awarded a two-year exploratory grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study a newly-discovered gene that slows the growth of malignant brain tumors.
Erdreich-Epstein is conducting her research at
The Saban Research Institute at Keck School-affiliated
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Brain cancer is often a life-threatening disease characterized by fast-growing tumors that invade the surrounding healthy brain tissue. Gliomas are the most common type of malignant brain tumor and account for the majority of brain cancers. Gliomas do not have distinct boundaries between the cancer and normal cells and often times embed into normal brain tissue. Surgical removal can be very difficult, if not impossible, and patient survival rates remain low.
Erdreich-Epstein’s early studies of the gene, in collaboration with
Shahab Asgharzadeh, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and pathology at the Keck School of Medicine, first indicated that higher expression of the gene correlated with higher cure rates in children in medulloblastomas, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Erdreich-Epstein then found this same correlation in gliomas and postulated that the presence of the gene makes the malignant tumors more responsive to treatment.
Erdreich-Epstein will use the grant to study the specific molecular pathway by which this gene inhibits the glioma cell’s growth. By understanding how the specific pathway operates, she can then create a chemical model in the lab that mimics the gene’s ability to inhibit the tumor.
Ultimately, Erdreich-Epstein aims to develop new agents that utilize the pathway to block tumor development and improve patient treatment.
“My early investigations show that this specific gene decreases the glioma cell’s ability to grow and survive,” Erdreich-Epstein said. “As a scientist, it is interesting to see the biological and chemical pathways that inhibit survival for an organism. As a physician, I want to use this understanding to exploit the tumor’s internal weaknesses in order to develop targeted therapies that increase our patients’ chances for long-term survival.”