Researchers in Gutmann's and Weber's laboratories took samples of cerebrospinal fluid from wild-type mice and a genetically engineered mouse model of NF1. Using a technique called proteomic analysis, they looked at the number of times copies of any given protein were found in the fluid. The goal was to identify proteins whose levels were different in the spinal fluid of the mouse model compared to normal mice.
Gutmann and Weber previously used the genetically engineered mice for a proteomic analysis of astrocytes, the brain cells that often become cancerous in patients with NF1. That led to the finding that proteins in the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway (mTOR) are overactivated, suggesting that mTOR may be a promising target for future chemotherapy for NF1-associated brain tumors.
The new study's results suggest that MetAP2 may be directly regulated by neurofibromin, the protein produced by the Nf1 gene.
Like the mTOR pathway proteins, MetAP2 is normally active in processes that regulate the production of proteins from RNA. Gutmann and Weber plan additional studies to determine how increased MetAP2 expression enables astrocyte growth and brain tumor development.
"The availability of a mouse model of NF1-associated brain tumors allows us to conduct experiments that we could never perform in humans that have already broadened our understanding of the function of the Nf1 gene," Gutmann says. "It's highly likely that these new insights will lead to new treatments for NF1 patients."
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Contact: Michael C. Purdy
purdym@wustl.edu
314-286-0122
Washington University School of Medicine
1-Nov-2005