Blocking a sugar doorway starved brain tumours' camouflage in mice — and woke the immune system up

Glioblastoma is a brain cancer that shrugs off immune-based treatments, and researchers led by Jason Miska at Northwestern University may have found one reason why. Immune cells that live in the brain, called microglia, carry a doorway protein named GLUT5 that pulls in fructose, a type of sugar — and tumours seem to use that sugar traffic to quiet the body's defences. In mouse studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, removing GLUT5 made tumours more vulnerable and improved survival, but only in animals with working immune systems. It is early, laboratory-stage work — not a treatment yet, and not a reason to change anyone's diet — but it gives scientists a concrete new target in a disease that badly needs one.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation