Q: What is the research you are currently involved in?
A: Currently our lab is focused on two projects. One of them is a meningioma model involving knockout mice from France, and the other is a local delivery project based on treating tumors at the site of growth.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the Meningioma project?
A: The meningioma model is a study we are doing in conjunction with Dr. Michel Kalamaridess, a neurosurgeon and researcher from France. In the lab of Dr. Marco Gionvannini in Paris he made a major leap when they were able to develop the first model mouse with a meningioma that mimics the behavior of meningiomas found in humans. When we heard about the work he was doing, we contacted him and started a joint project whereby our lab uses these models to study the biology of meningiomas.
There are several phases to this project. The first phase is the development of the mouse model, which requires deactivation of the NF2 gene. The NF2 gene was chosen because patients with Neurofibromatosis-2 have an elevated risk for developing meningiomas. Biallelic inactivation of the NF2 gene has been identified in 30-70% of sporadic meningiomas. Using this as a model, Michel injects the mice with an adenovirus (that deactivates this NF2 gene). Once injected, the animals are scanned using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI. This allows us to track the progression of the tumor from its earliest stages of development. Since meningiomas are slow growing, the research teams must wait months before seeing tumor development. After the tumors are identified and allowed to grow, some of the mice will be sacrificed and the tumors will be removed, preserved and studied extensively in a laboratory. Some of the remaining mice will be given experimental drugs in an effort to treat the tumor.
Q: What are you hoping to learn from this study?
A: This is the first mouse model of meningiomas; this in itself is very exciting. We can then use this model to understand the biology of meningiomas including their growth pattern. We also hope to treat the tumors in some of the mice and follow their progress after treatment to help identify effective therapy for this tumor type.
Q: What is the other study you are working on?
A: This other project is also being done in conjunction with another researcher, Marcelle Machluf, a researcher from the Technion University in Israel. This project is targeted towards localized treatment of tumors. Currently tumor therapy can include treatment that involves your whole body, like chemotherapy. Even though it helps fight the tumor, it also affects the rest of the patient. Our hope is that we can devise methods that will allow medication to be released directly into the tumor itself and the surrounding tissue to prevent the need for systemic involvement.
Q: How is this done?
A: First we inject mice with tumor cells taken from humans and allow the tumor to develop, this can take about 20 days. Once the tumor is formed, we remove it by microsurgery (similar to the human scenario) and place the local delivery system into the brain where the tumor was removed. There are two methods to this treatment, cell and protein based therapy. One is called encapsulation. This process involves taking cells which express a therapeutic protein and placing them in semi permeable polymeric membrane. The cells then multiply and produce the therapeutic protein. These encapsulated cells are then placed into the surgical cavity and inhibit tumor growth. The other method is called nanoparticles. In this case the particles are designed to degrade and release a protein that will inhibit tumor growth.
Q: How does this kind of research affect people who have just been diagnosed with a meningioma?
A: This research will give us a better understanding of the biology of these particular tumors, which may lead to new therapeutic strategies.
