A combination approach to treating a prevalent glioma subtype — including metabolic reprogramming, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy — led to a complete regression of tumors in 60% of study mice, new research by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found.
The findings support the testing of inhibitors of a key cancer metabolite — D-2-Hydroxyglutarate (D-2-HG) — in combination with radiation, temozolomide and PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors as a targeted therapy for patients with a common glioma subtype, the researchers say.
“Our study showed that inhibiting D-2-HG, which is elevated in a subtype of gliomas, was able to improve survival when combined with the current standard of care for these patients,” says study first author Padma Kadiyala, a first-year immunology graduate student in the joint lab of lead study authors Maria Castro, PhD, and Pedro Lowenstein, MD, PhD “When an immune checkpoint inhibitor was also included, we saw an even bigger improvement.”
