Robert Vanner – University of Toronto, ON

Project: “Modelling Clonal Hematopoiesis as a Driver of Glioblastoma Growth to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets”

Generously funded in Honour of Mackenzie Rigg supported by Vikes Kick Cancer

Description of Project:

Glioblastoma is the most common and deadly adult brain tumour. It’s unclear why some tumours grow faster, or resist treatments, more than others. We discovered that changes in the aging immune system called clonal hematopoiesis are associated with worse survival in patients with glioblastoma. We found that patients with glioblastoma and clonal hematopoiesis had tumours with higher levels of growth signals and more blood vessel growth. We believe that unique signals from clonal hematopoiesis make tumours more aggressive or resist treatments. It is essential to develop a controlled system to study the association between clonal hematopoiesis and glioblastoma outcome to understand the underlying biology and use it to develop new targeted therapies. This award will allow us to use cutting edge techniques in gene editing and brain tumour modelling to grow human glioblastoma in mice with a human immune system, with or without clonal hematopoiesis. With this model we can determine how clonal hematopoiesis changes key tumour properties like growth and therapy-resistance, alters the tumour environment, and influences interactions between immune cells and tumour cells. This could lead to novel treatments to help patients with glioblastoma to live longer lives.

What receiving this award means:

“I am thrilled and grateful to receive The Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada Mackenzie Rigg Brain Tumour Research Grant. These funds will launch an ambitious project in a completely new area of glioblastoma research, studying how age-related changes in the blood system fuel tumour growth. I want to specifically thank the Rigg Family and Vikes Kick Cancer whose generous support and fundraising efforts made this award possible. In learning about Mackenzie, I have been inspired by his character and the tenacity and resolve he showed in the face of being diagnosed with glioblastoma at such a young age. We will strive to honour his legacy with this research.