Projekt 7

EPIGENTIC AND KINOMA-SPECIFIC PATTERNS FOR PREDICTING GLIOBLASTOMA RESPONSE TO X-RAYS AND TEMOZOLOMIDE

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a WHO grade IV brain tumor and one of the most common and aggressive brain tumors. Despite various treatment modalities (usually a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy with temozolomide), GBM patients have a median survival of only about 15 months from the time of diagnosis. To improve therapy, efforts are being made both to personalize treatment to the individual patient and to identify potential targets for alternative molecular therapeutic options. In this regard, analyses of both the epigenome and the kinome appear to be promising approaches. Therefore, the primary goal of this project is to find patterns in the methylome and kinome of glioblastoma cells that are associated with radiosensitivity and temozolomide sensitivity. For this purpose, the methylation pattern of the epigenome and the phosphorylation pattern of the kinome will be determined in GBM cell lines and primary tumor samples. The particularly characteristic patterns will be analyzed with respect to their molecular consequences using further methods such as upstream kinase analysis, PCR or Western blot.