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‹ Wed · 8 Jul 2026
Promising but preliminary

CD13 identifies S100A4(+) immunosuppressive monocytes and predicts temozolomide benefit in glioblastoma.

A surface marker on immune-suppressing cells predicts which brain tumor patients benefit from standard chemotherapy, enabling smarter treatment selection.

This study used multi-platform genomic datasets (TCGA, Human Protein Atlas, scRNA-seq) to identify CD13 as the key surface marker on immunosuppressive monocytes in glioblastoma, positioned in a CD13-TGFβ-S100A4 immunosuppressive axis. Critically, CD13-high expression predicted selective survival benefit from temozolomide—the standard GBM chemotherapy—suggesting CD13 could serve as a precision biomarker to stratify patients for chemotherapy vs. alternative approaches.

What the study was

Study design
bioinformatics_retrospective
Population
Glioblastoma multiforme patients and GBM cell datasets
Category
Genomics/Precision Medicine
Maturity
Exploratory
Journal
Biol Direct

Why it surfaced

Identifies CD13 as a novel predictive biomarker for temozolomide response in GBM, which has almost universally poor prognosis and urgent need for treatment personalization; CD13 is a surface-accessible target; multi-dataset validation provides preliminary confidence for clinical translation.

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