Considering the relevance of the new findings, the paper has been selected for feature on the cover of this Aug. 18 issue of Developmental Cell. The coverage image (available upon request by emailing eas2125columbia) shows the alterations of neural cells in the mouse brain carrying inactivation of Huwe1 with the superimposed molecular network responsible for those alterations. The network was assembled by the lab of research team member Andrea Califano, Ph.D., a computational biologist at Columbia University Medical Center's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Califano lab developed computational algorithms to dissect transcriptional and post-transcriptional interaction that helped the team analyze the data - pinpointing the role of Huwe1. Dr. Califano is professor of biomedical informatics and founding director of Columbia's new Systems Biology Initiative.

Brain tumors are among the most devastating cancers for both children and adults.

According to the American Brain Tumor Association, brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in patients younger than age 35. Approximately 17,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with brain cancer each year and nearly 13,000 die of the disease. The annual incidence of primary brain cancer in children is about 3 per 100,000.

Brain tumors do not discriminate. Primary brain tumors - those that begin in the brain and tend to stay in the brain - occur in people of all ages, but they are statistically more frequent in children and older adults. Metastatic brain tumors - those that begin as a cancer elsewhere in the body and spread to the brain - are more common in adults than in children.

Brain tumors are the most common of the solid tumors in children, and the leading cause of death from solid tumors. Brain tumors are the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children under the age of 20. Leukemia remains the first.

There are few effective treatments for brain tumors, which are typically very aggressive - necessitating high doses of chemotherapy, which may result in neuro-deficiencies and learning disabilities in patients.

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