CiRNAseq analysis of tumors to predict brain tumor behaviour and identify targets for personalized treatment
In this project, we want to investigate whether, based on a new molecular profiling method, we can predict whether a tumor metastasize and how the growth of a metastatic tumor can be prevented.
Contribution to the STOPbraintumors foundation: €35.500 as of March 24, 2021
In this project we want to answer the following three questions:
Can we predict the risk of brain metastasis based on molecular characteristics of primary tumor?
Are there detectable similarities between brain metastases and gliomas?
Can we apply personalized treatment to prevent metastasis to the brain and growth of brain metastases?
We aim to answer these questions by applying a newly developed technology, ciRNAseq, to an extensive selection of primary tumors and a set of matched brain metastases, with known clinical outcome. While mutations and amplifications in tumor cells are demonstrated with the usual DNA techniques, we can obtain the same information with ciRNAseq, with additional expression levels of genes in cancer cells and the cells in the cancer stroma (immune cells, fibroblasts, etc.). This gives us biological information about how cancer cells interact with each other and with cells in their environment. This information can then be used to disrupt interactions in a therapeutic context. CiRNAseq is very cost-effective, allowing many samples to be analyzed at the same time. We have not also built static models to predict the behavior of individual cancers and to predict the effectiveness of therapy based on that behavior. We have already demonstrated this concept in animal experiments.
The expected result of this project is an RNA classifier and an algorithm that calculates the risk of metastases, based on analysis of primary tumor tissues that gave rise to brain metastases and tumors that did not, indicative of a potentially successful therapy. By making a comparison with gliomas, we will try to elucidate which biological pathways are involved in the development of brain metastases.