Gliomas are the most common malignant brain tumors, characterized by diffuse infiltration of the surrounding brain tissue. Fibulin-3 is a novel extracellular protein of poorly known function, which was found highly upregulated in gliomas but not expressed in other tumors or normal brain. Overexpression and RNA interference experiments revealed that fibulin-3 acts as a pro-motility signal that increases metalloprotease expression and promotes glioma cell adhesion and motility, without affecting cell proliferation. Accordingly, tumor cells overexpressing fibulin-3 showed increased invasion through nervous tissue, resulting in enlarged and more diffuse intracranial tumors. For details, see article by Hu and colleagues 1756.