Grant: Project Grant

Glioblastoma is a deadly form of brain cancer that often returns after treatment. The tumours regrow because of the presence of a tiny population of cells that are resistant to treatment and resemble stem cells. Treatments that specifically target glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) will stop tumours from re-growing after treatment. GSCs have different nutritional needs than healthy cells. By identifying the differences in the nutrients on which cancer stem cells depend as opposed to those on which healthy cells depend, we can more specifically target cancer cells while keeping side effects to a minimum. In our previous work we isolated GSCs from patient tumours and studied their genetics and metabolism. We found that some of these cells showed highly disturbed metabolic activity, pointing us towards a specific set of small molecules that may be involved in the growth of the cancer stem cells. We are interested in investigating the reason behind this observation, and then use our findings to specifically target these cells with drugs.