Thomas Klonisch, Professor & Head, Human Anatomy and Cell Science, University of Manitoba

“Novel minimally-invasive immune-proteome biomarker strategy for Glioblastoma”

Project Summary

There is an urgent need for the rapid identification of protein and immunological biomarkers which are indicative of brain tumours, permit early diagnosis, and monitor treatment options and responses. Ideally, such assays are minimally-invasive and detect circulating oncological and immunological biomarkers from blood samples. Nowhere is this more important than in the early diagnosis and monitoring of highly malignant and rapidly growing glioblastoma (GBM) which constitute about 60% of all primary brain tumours and has one of the worst 5-year survival rates among all cancers. Currently, there is no early diagnostic test for GBM.

We have established two minimally invasive assays for the identification of plasma-based predictive and/or prognostic proteome and circulating immune cell signatures from a single patient blood sample. These robust high content assays include the proteomic SOMA scan assay and a multicolour flow cytometry detection several immune cell subtypes circulating within the blood. The combination of both assays translates into a new strategy for clinical monitoring of GBM patients.

The primary goal of our proposal is to identify plasma-derived protein and immune cell signatures that are suitable for early non-invasive diagnosis of GBM, can serve as response predictor or differentiator of pseudo-progression vs real progression, and indicate GBM recurrences.