삼성서울병원

SMC’s Institute for Refractory Cancer Research and Samsung Genome Institute have analyzed genomes of patients with initial and relapsing brain tumors and suggested a new way of personalized treatment for relapsing brain tumors.

The Institute for Refractory Cancer Research’s team led by Prof. Dr. Do-Hyun Nam and the Samsung Genome Institute’s team led by Prof. Woongyang Park closely monitored 38 patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a type of malignant brain tumors and compared the genomic mutation profiles between initial and relapsing tumors, in which they have identified specific patterns of genomic mutations depending on the locations of the relapsing tumors.

According to the research, when the tumor recurs near the location of the initial tumor, it features similar genomic characteristics as the initial one. Otherwise, the recurring tumor has a number of mutations that were not seen in the initial one.

This suggests, when a targeted chemotherapy is applied to brain tumor recurrence and the lesion is not adjacent to the initial tumor, an additional genetic analysis of the relapsing tumor is necessary for an effectively targeted therapy.

Also, depending on the mutation of the brain tumor-related IDH1 gene, it is identified that temozolomide, a standard anticancer agent, shows different chances of side effects, which means anticancer regimen and adverse effect monitoring can be applied depending on the mutation of the gene.

“This will be a significant breakthrough to provide genome-based personalized therapy for brain tumor patients”, said the researchers.

The findings were published as a cover of the latest issue of a prestigious international journal, Cancer Cell (SCI 23.893).