This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), under the Cancer Treatment Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.395), is providing $655,306 to The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to conduct research on leveraging reactive metabolite generation as a therapeutic approach for IDH-mutant gliomas.
The key objectives of this 5-year project are to: 1) determine if the combination of a glyoxalase-1 inhibitor (BBG) and radiation is an effective treatment strategy for IDH-mutant gliomas, 2) delineate the molecular mechanisms governing reactive metabolite generation in IDH-mutant gliomas, and 3) evaluate the use of deuterium-labeled glucose as an early in vivo biomarker of response to the BBG/radiation combination in preclinical IDH-mutant glioma models. This innovative research aims to validate reactive metabolite generation as a druggable vulnerability in IDH-mutant gliomas and lay the foundation for clinical translation of the BBG/radiation approach to improve outcomes for this difficult-to-treat patient population.