UAB Department of Neurosurgery Professor Erwin G. Van Meir, Ph.D., received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support his research on glioblastomas, a malignant brain tumor for which no cure is available. 

New therapies are urgently needed for patients with malignant gliomas, a highly invasive brain tumor. Despite current conventional therapies, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, patients with glioblastomas, the most aggressive form of malignant glioma, have low long-term survival rates. A major driver of tumor recurrence is the infiltrative nature of the glioma cells into the adjacent normal brain, driven by the activation of a mesenchymal transcription program.

Van Meir's project titled "Mechanisms underlying BAI1/ADGRB1 negative regulation of glioblastoma mesenchymal transition and invasion" will study the role of a cell surface receptor called BAI1 and determine how to prevent brain cells from becoming invasive.

"We are excited to investigate how reactivating BAI1 expression in glioblastoma cells can revert the mesenchymal switch and block invasion. Our pilot studies in mice show that we can do this with a small molecule and prolong their life by slowing down tumor growth. This approach may lead to a new way of treating patients with brain tumors.” said Van Meir.