Study: Deadly brain cancer has hidden patterns, cancer cells change predictably

Glioblastoma is one of the deadliest brain cancers, in part because its cancer cells are able to change their own cellular properties to survive treatment. A study conducted jointly by Germany and the United Kingdom found that the changes in these cancer cells follow predictable and hidden patterns. The research was published in the journal Nature.

According to the science website SciTechDaily, a research team from the German Cancer Research Center and the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK plans to start research on glioblastoma "from scratch." The researchers put forward an idea: Can they assume that they know nothing about the disease and reconstruct the behavior pattern of cancer cells through quantitative analysis?

After having the idea, the research team analyzed the DNA, RNA and epigenetic information from the tumors of 12 glioblastoma patients, and established one of the most comprehensive molecular maps of glioblastoma currently. After analyzing the map, the researchers found that cancer cells follow specific molecular rules to switch between different cell states.

The analysis showed that some cancer cells exhibit neuron-like characteristics, others have stem cell properties, and some transform into a highly invasive state similar to a tissue damage response. This ability of cells to adapt and transform is called "Cellular Plasticity" and is also an important reason why tumors develop treatment resistance.

The research team also noticed that cancer cells in different states were also distributed in specific areas within the tumor. The researchers further confirmed this distribution pattern using laboratory-grown tumor organoids.

After discovering the hidden patterns of change, the research team then analyzed the gene regulation mechanisms in more than 1 million cancer cells taken from glioblastoma patients. The researchers used a deep learning tool called "scDORI" to identify the molecular regulators that affect the state transition of cancer cells. Some of these regulatory factors act like protective mechanisms, keeping cancer cells in a relatively stable state and limiting their cellular plasticity.

The analysis showed that by regulating a few key regulatory factors, it is possible to guide cancer cells into a less aggressive state. When the researchers increased the activity of the regulatory factor MYT1L, the cell plasticity and malignant characteristics of cancer cells were reduced.

The research team said that the team had long hypothesized that understanding the rules behind glioblastoma cells would allow them to not only observe what the cancer cells are doing, but also further modify their behavior. And experiments have indeed proven that only a few regulatory factors need to be manipulated to guide cancer cells to transform into a specific cell state.

The research team pointed out that through cell atlas and new artificial intelligence tools, the team found new regulatory sequences, which may in the future induce glioblastoma cells to transform into specific states in specific tumor environments. The researchers added that although this experiment is of far-reaching significance, there is still some way to go before it can be used in actual clinical treatment.