The research team was led by Ganjam Kalpana, professor of genetics and of microbiology & immunology, the Mark Trauner Faculty Scholar in Neuro-oncology at Einstein.
There are no effective treatments for rhabdoid tumors - aggressive childhood cancers that usually strike children under three years old and affect the brain or kidneys. The disease is extremely rare - fewer than 10 cases are diagnosed each year in the US - but is particularly difficult to treat and almost always fatal.
The Aurora A gene is known to be expressed at higher-than-normal levels in many cancers, and its expression is associated with poor prognosis. Scientists have also known that mutations in a tumor suppressor gene called INI1/hSNF5 can lead to rhabdoid tumors.
In this study, the Kalpana team found that, in rhabdoid tumors, loss of the tumor suppressor gene INI1/hSNF5 leads to changes in Aurora Aâ€™s expression that are crucial for tumor growth.
In experiments involving rhabdoid tumors and tumor cell lines, the Einstein scientists showed for the first time that Aurora A is highly expressed in both human and mouse rhabdoid tumors, that the loss of the INI1/hSNF5 tumor suppressor gene from rhabdoid tumor cells leads to the de-repression of Aurora A, and that knocking down Aurora Aâ€™s expression in rhabdoid tumor cells potently inhibits the growth of those cells.
Ms Kalpana said: â€œOur findings indicate that targeting Aurora A could be an effective strategy for halting rhabdoid tumor growth. She notes that many Aurora A inhibitors are now being tested against several types of cancers, includingmelanoma and non-Hodgkinâ€™s lymphoma, and other researchers have now expressed interest in using Aurora A inhibitors in trials for children with rhabdoid brain tumors.â€
Have your say and discuss with your peers on the InfoGrok community