Immunocompetent iPSC-Brain Organoids: The Dialogue Between Myeloid and Lymphoid Cells Within Glioblastoma Microenvironment

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive type of malignant brain tumour in adults. GBM grows rapidly and can extensively spread to other healthy areas of the brain, making it very difficult to treat. GBM has a very poor prognosis, with a survival rate of around 15 months after diagnosis. Tumour recurrence is common and only 5% of patients survive longer than five years, which emphasizes the urgent need for improved treatment options.

The tumour microenvironment (TME) is composed of both tumour and non-tumour cells, including brain cells and immune cells. The interplay between different cells within the TME is the key regulator of tumour growth, invasion and treatment resistance. GBM is known for its inhibitory TME, which leads to the lack of success of immunotherapies.

Our lab has been working on developing an immunocompetent patient-derived model to understand the cell-cell communications that contribute to tumour evolution and treatment resistance.

In this project, we will further develop the model, including the study of other immune cells (e.g. lymphocytes) that are critical in promoting tumour clearance, to investigate how we can manipulate the TME to increase the success of treatments.