Loss of LARP4B, an early event in the tumorigenesis of brain cancer?

In April 2016, Koso and colleagues from professor Sumiko Watanabe’s group at University of Tokyo published a paper in Cancer Research describing LARP4B as a tumour suppressor gene (TSG) in glioma (1). Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common, aggressive and locally invasive form of glioma with a median survival from diagnosis of 12–15 months despite maximal treatment (2). Survival has improved little over the last 30 years and effective therapies are still a major unmet clinical need.