Credit: Anna Lasorella, MD/Columbia University Medical Center
About 15 percent of glioblastoma driver genes can be targeted with currently available drugs, suggesting that personalized treatment for some patients may be possible in the near future. Personalized therapy for glioblastoma patients could be achieved by isolating the most aggressive cells from the patient's tumor and identifying the driver gene responsible for the tumor's growth (different tumors will be driven by different genes). Drugs can then be tested on the isolated cells to find the most promising candidate. In this image, the gene mutation driving the malignant tumor has been replaced with the normal gene, transforming malignant cells back into normal brain cells.