Grant: CIHR Fellowship

It is estimated that 27 Canadian's are diagnosed with a brain tumour each day, with 55,000 currently living with the disease in Canada. Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive brain tumour of adulthood. Current treatment consists of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, which provide a survival benefit of about one year. Not every cell within a GBM tumour is the same. Increasing evidence has shown that stem-like cells present in GBM tumours are highly resistant to conventional radio- and chemo- therapy. These cells are thought to promote tumour regrowth and patient relapse. As a result, this poses a major therapeutic problem, as current treatment paradigms for GBM do not consider the inherent cell type differences within a given tumour. In addition to radio- and chemo- resistance, these specialized cells termed glioblastoma stem cells are highly adaptive to changes within the tumour's local environment, allowing them to survive and mediate tumour recurrence. The research outlined in this proposal will advance our knowledge of how glioblastoma stem cells persist under nutrient fluctuations, such as glucose deprivation, in order to promote cell survival and tumour progression. Understanding how this adaptation and resistance mechanism occurs, the regulators of this process, and the functional consequences, may uncover novel leads for therapeutic intervention in GBM.