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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2009;301(19):1977.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 138 words of the full text and any section headings.

Mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 gene (IDH1) help fuel the growth of a deadly type of brain tumor by triggering a chain of events that promote the development of blood vessels supplying the tumor, a team of US and Chinese scientists has found (Zhao S et al. Science. 2009;324[5924]:261-265).

The researchers found that IDH1 mutations in glioma tumor cells resulted in reduced levels of -ketoglutarate (-KG), which regulates the level of a substance that facilitates angiogenesis and tumor growth when oxygen is low. Adding a modified form of -KG to glioma cells grown in culture reverses this effect.

The findings suggest that IDH1 functions as a tumor suppressor gene, the researchers said, noting that drugs "mimicking -KG may merit exploration as a therapy for gliomas that harbor an IDH1 mutation."

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