A team of Michigan State University scientists has unveiled a potential game-changer in the fight against glioblastoma.
Their weapon of choice? A drug-like compound named Ogremorphin, or OGM. In laboratory experiments, OGM showed a remarkable ability to kill glioblastoma cells while leaving normal cells unharmed.
The study was published in the journal Experimental Hematology and Oncology.
What makes OGM special lies in its precision. The researchers targeted an acid sensor called GPR68/OGR1 on the cancer cell membranes, disrupting a crucial signaling pathway that cancer cells rely on to survive and grow.
“Because glioblastoma cells acidify their tumor environment and then use the acid-sensing receptor to survive, the OGM compound essentially cuts off their lifeline,” Charles Hong explained. “We haven't found a single brain cancer cell line that it can’t kill.”
Hong led the study along with his College of Human Medicine colleagues Charles Williams and Leif Neitzel, as well as with researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
