Individuals with NF2 are at increased risk for developing spinal cord tumors called ependymomas. Currently, the only available treatment for these tumors is surgery.
Cindy Garcia, PhD, a former graduate student in the laboratory of David H. Gutmann, MD PhD, used genetically-engineered mouse models of NF2 to determine how the Nf2 protein, merlin, controls spinal cord cell growth. She found that merlin suppresses the activity of a critical growth factor receptor, called ErbB2, and that blocking ErbB2 activation in NF2-deficient cells inhibited their growth. These findings offer potential targets for new drug treatments.
Garcia C, Gutmann DH. Nf2/Merlin controls spinal cord neural progenitor function in a Rac1/ErbB2-dependent manner. PLoS One. 9:e97320, 2014.