Dispersed Glioblastoma Cells Prove More Aggressive

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains one of the most lethal brain cancers, with median survival just over a year. Even after surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, virtually all tumors recur. Now, researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and collaborators provide a new explanation for this resilience: GBM cells that break away from cell clusters acquire a dangerous flexibility known as plasticity, allowing them to adapt and resist treatment.

“This gives us a much better grasp of the biology of glioblastoma, a tumor type where a lot still remains to be discovered,” said Anna Lasorella, MD, senior author of the study, published in Cancer Cell .

Mapping tumors cell by cell

The team, co-led by Antonio Iavarone, MD, used spatial transcriptomics—an advanced gene-expression mapping techno