​Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a promising new target for glioblastoma treatment: the enzyme PGM3.

The focus is on an enzyme called PGM3, which plays a critical role in the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway—a metabolic process that helps produce the building blocks for glycosylation, or the addition of sugars to proteins and lipids.

Glycosylation is essential for many cellular functions, but in cancer cells, it's often hijacked to support uncontrolled growth and survival. Glioblastoma cells, in particular, rely heavily on this pathway to fuel their rapid expansion.

By inhibiting PGM3, the researchers were able to disrupt this metabolic dependency in lab models, significantly slowing tumor growth. This suggests that targeting PGM3 could be a novel and effective way to treat glioblastoma, which currently has very limited treatment options and a median survival time of just 12 to 16 months after diagnosis.

While the research is still preclinical (meaning it hasn't yet been tested in humans), it opens the door to potentially groundbreaking new therapies focused on cutting off the tumor’s metabolic lifeline.