Scientists at the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have spotted a particular gene to identify an expression pattern, which can be used as a differential marker for various stages of development of brain tumours (glioma) using micro array methodology.
The research team led by Prof. M.R.S. Rao, head, micro array lab, biochemistry department, IISc, have completed the first phase of research for identifying 25 different genes expressed in brain cancer or glioma.
The findings will be validated using real time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) on many glioma samples under the second phase of the research, for which IISc has approached the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) for grants.
"In terms of research findings, IISc has made significant strides in glioma and oral cancer. Several brain tumours in different grades were analysed. There are different pathways between primary and secondary glioma. The molecular heterogeneity used in these approaches can be used to identify the markers to define the different types of primary or secondary glioma. A number of genes were identified using micro array to show an `up' regulation or `down' regulation depending on the stages of cancer," Prof. MRS Rao told Pharmabiz.
In the initial stages, IISc team scanned around 40 tumours. "Before it can be used for a clinical application from a lab observation, it needs to be validated on much larger samples. The findings will be developed into a diagnostic kit. While developing a diagnostic kit, we have to be careful of the validation to see whether it can qualify for tests on a large genetic population. Because of heterogeneity in the population, even if we get 80 per cent success, it is an achievement," he said.
The project for cancer research, which covers brain tumours, oral cancer and gall bladder cancer, is being conducted under the NMTLI (New Millennium Technology Leadership Initiative) programme of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). The programme involves two leading science research institutes in the country IISc, Bangalore and CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology), Hyderabad, supported by four clinical hospitals - Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Manipal Hospital, both in Bangalore, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital, New Delhi and Tata Memorial Cancer Research Centre (TMCRC), Mumbai along with the industry collaborator, Dabur Research Foundation.
While IISc utilised its expertise in micro array, CCMB used the Proteomics to identify proteins, which are diagnostic for glioma. TMCRC has also adopted Proteomics approach for oral cancer. Efforts are now on to build-up the clinical phase through large-scale validation and also recruit patients undergoing treatment to correlate the gene expression and help establish a technique in faster diagnosis, which could eventually bring down cost of diagnostics, he added.
The team of scientists also included Prof. MRS Rao, are Prof. Kumar Somasundaram and Prof. P Kondaiah from the department of Biochemistry, Dr. A S Hegde, head, department of neuro surgery, Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences and Dr. Sri Devi Hegde, department of genetics, Manipal Hospital and Dr. Vani Santosh of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS).