(AGI) Rome, Oct 13 - The molecular pathway responsible for thepropagation of the medulloblastoma has been detected. The newswas released by a group of La Sapienza and Istituto Pasteurresearchers based in Rome, who published this study ofmedulloblastoma, the most frequent type of brain cancer inchildren, in the journal 'Developmental Cell'. To date there isno effective approach for the treatment of medulloblastoma.There is only a new potential strategy to hinder its growth,i.e. interrupting the newly discovered molecular mechanismresponsible for the formation and propagation of the tumour.This research outcome lays a basis for blocking pathologicalgrowth. "In a significant number of patients themedulloblastoma is triggered by abnormal activation of theso-called Hedgehog Highway, a sort of molecular domino which,if uncontrolled, stimulates the proliferation and migration ofnerve cells. In such patients we have observed an accumulationof polyammines which are tiny positively-charged molecules thatusually increase in cases of tumour, " explained GianlucaCanettieri, from the department of La Sapienza's MolecularMedicine. The Rome-based researchers conducted severalmultidisciplinary studies and discovered the cause of theaccumulation of the polyammines in medulloblastomas. "We havefound an unconventional HH, to date unknown, which is like apreferential highway that, starting from the HH, directlystimulates polyammine metabolization." The next step consistedof interrupting the viability of this path, nullifying themolecular activity by using specific medication. Researchershave thus been successful in effectively constraining tumourgrowth in pre-clinical models. "These drugs need to be verifiedon human beings, but in the meantime, strides have been made inthe understanding of the pathogenesis of the medulloblastoma,so opening new treatment prospects." ( AGI). .