By funding Pioneer Projects, the Norwegian Cancer Society aims to support early-stage exploration of novel and innovative ideas: in other words, high risk-high gain research ideas. The zebrafish model to be developed at NCMM will be the first of its kind and has the potential to become an important new animal model for studying aggressive pediatric brain tumors.
Zebrafish to model deadly brain tumors in children
Brain and other central nervous system tumors are the most common types of malignant solid tumors diagnosed in children. One of the deadliest types of children’s brain tumors is known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). While the disease is rare, only 2 out of 100 children with DIPG survive beyond five years from the time they receive the diagnosis. The standard-of-care treatment option for patients with DIPG is currently radiation therapy.
– DIPG is a complex disease and requires treatment strategies that are tailored to each patient, says Sebastian Waszak.
And to find personalized treatment strategies is the motivation behind the pioneer project, which aims at establishing novel zebrafish models of DIPG.
Today, researchers rely on mice as models for testing new treatment strategies. However, working with mice is expensive and modelling the biological complexity of tumors is challenging. Zebrafish, on the other hand, are less expensive and enable numerous possibilities for modelling tumor development. By establishing personalized animal models of DIPG, Dr. Waszak and colleagues hope to be able to efficiently test novel drugs and, in particular, combinations of drugs.
Controlling tumor development in time and space
The zebrafish model will be genetically engineered to develop DIPG under controlled conditions. In addition, they are engineered in such a way that critical genes involved in DIPG development can be turned on only in specific brain cells.
– Each case of DIPG has a unique tumor genome. This zebrafish model will allow us to mimic cases of DIPG observed in children. We will be able to control when and where certain genes are activated in the brain, and in this way model tumor development in both time and space. This, combined with observed drug responses, can then be used to determine the best treatment strategy for individual cases of DIPG, explains Dr. Waszak.
Collaborative project
The project is part of a global collaborative network called The Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC). The primary goal of the network is to find a cure for aggressive brain and central nervous system tumors in children. Dr. Waszak hopes to contribute with this animal model to preclinical PNOC studies, and hopefully speed up the process of finding such a cure.
The grant from the Norwegian Cancer Society will be important for the early-stage establishment and testing of the zebrafish model. NCMM houses the Zebrafish Core Facility at the University of Oslo, whose expertise will make the development of the project possible.
Read more
Read more about the Norwegian Cancer Society Pioneer Projects.