Novel Strategies to Target Glioma Stem Cells

Malignant stem-like cells are responsible for the growth and maintenance of the brain tumor glioma.

While these cells have the capacity to evade standard cancer therapy and are an important cause of tumor resistance and recurrence, the goal of this project is to generate insights how more efficient therapeutic strategies can be developed to defuse brain tumor stem cells.To reach this goal our aim is to examine how healthy human (h) NSCs activate intrinsic defense mechanisms to escape malignant transformation and to use this knowledge to activate anti-tumorigenic program in glioma stem cells.

Our hypothesis is that the transcription factor SOX21 is necessary for the induction of tumor suppressor proteins in hNSCs, exposed to inappropriate mitotic cues. But also, that increased levels of SOX21 are sufficient to activate anti-tumorigenic programs in glioma stem cells.

To address these ideas, we will use gain- and loss-of-function approaches both in vitro and in vivo to determine how SOX21 can function as a tumor suppressor in hNSCs and counteract the growth and maintenance of pre-established glioma. We will also screen for factors and molecular networks with the capacity of modulating SOX21 expression.

This 5-year project involves post-doctoral members of the lab and core facilities at the Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab.

This project is promising to unravel knowledge that can be of significance for the development of more efficient approaches for the treatment of glioma.