Award-winning research on brain tumors

Dr. Christiane Opitz and Dr. Ulrike Litzenburger of the Helmholtz Junior Research Group Experimental Neuroimmunology at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) share this year’s Waltraud Lewenz Prize. The two scientists have discovered a signaling pathway that makes brain tumors particularly aggressive and weakens the immune system.

In glioblastoma, which is the most malignant of brain tumors, the two researchers came across a molecule called kynurenin. Kynurenin is formed when the amino acid tryptophan – a protein component taken in with food – is broken down in the body. In cells of very aggressively growing glioblastomas the researchers found particularly high levels of kynurenin. Opitz and Litzenburger were surprised to discover that kynurenin binds to a protein known as dioxin receptor, which has only been known so far to be activated by environmental toxins such as dioxin. The binding of kynurenin to the receptor triggers a cascade of chemical reactions which ultimately promote tumor growth and weaken the immune system. This link also appears to exist in other types of cancer such as cancers of the bladder, bowel or lungs. Drugs that interfere with the dioxin signaling pathway may therefore be promising approaches in the treatment of glioblastoma and other cancers.

It is the fourth time that the German Cancer Research Center awards the Waltraud Lewenz Prize, which is worth €7,500 this year. Waltraud Lewenz was a high school teacher in Wiesbaden, Germany, and with her bequest supported the DKFZ Research Programs "Cancer Risk Factors and Prevention" and "Diagnostics and Experimental Therapy". In addition, she donated the prize to be awarded every two years for excellent scientific achievements in the above mentioned research areas.

The €4,500 Richtzenhain Prize has been awarded to Dr. Marc Remke, who concluded his doctoral thesis at the Division of Molecular Genetics at DKFZ. As part of his thesis, Remke studied the genetic material of childhood brain tumors (medulloblastome, astrocytoma) as well as of acute T cell leukemias. By relating the genomic data to clinical results and survival data, Remke was able to classify medulloblastomas into groups with differing prognosis and to identify new molecular signaling pathways that promote the development of these cancers.

In more than half of astrocytomas studied, Remke discovered a duplication of the chromosome segment that contains the BRAF oncogene. Drugs that interfere with its signaling pathway may be a new treatment option for these brain tumors. The jurors particularly commended Marc Remke’s work for attaining several findings at once that may help to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

The Richtzenhain Prize, which DKFZ has awarded since 1975 on behalf of a foundation established by neurologist Walther Richtzenhain and his wife Christine, is awarded annually, alternately to doctoral students at Heidelberg research institutes and to scientists from across Germany for publications in the area of translational cancer research.