Patient Derived iPSCs for High Grade Glioma (PDi:HGG)

The typical patient diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which constitutes 45% of all malignant primary brain and CNS tumours, is aged 50-60 and will survive 15 months after diagnosis. The Patient Derived iPSCs for High Grade Glioma (PDi:HGG) project will provide a new strategy for researchers to develop treatments specifically for this cancer. If successful, the project will have a profound and widespread impact on cancer research. We will bring together two different areas of science which have each developed rapidly in the last ten years. During this time, the capacity to transform human cells into an induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) has become a mainstay of biological research. Separately, there has been a growing appreciation that solid tumours include a small number of “cancer stem cells”, which if not entirely removed by therapy can cause the cancer to return. These cancer stem cells are elusive and designing treatments that target them has been largely unsuccessful. PDi:HGG will use iPSC technology to create iPSCs from cells extracted from patients suffering High Grade Glioma, mainly GBM. The project will use the stem cells and derivatives created to support the development of new cancer drugs, which specifically target cancer stem cell differentiation.