Recent studies have examined how overexpression of certain genes enhances the tropism of neural stem cells (NSCs) for gliomas. Overexpression of Transmembrane protein 18 (TMEM18) provides NSCs and neural precursors an increased migration capacity towards glioblastoma cells in vitro and in the rat brain, while functional inactivation of the gene resulted in an almost complete loss of migration activity, suggesting that TMEM18 could be a potential target in NSC-based glioma therapy. Other recent results suggest that among others, the TMEM18 loci is associated with higher than normal body mass index (BMI) and obesity, indicating there may be a CNS-related role in predisposition to obesity. Multiple isoforms of TMEM18 are known to exist.
