Emma Karp is a student of the Elite Graduate Program “Biomedical Neuroscience”, who decided to focus on understanding diseases of the central nervous system. During a 5-month internship at the Karolinska institute in Stockholm, Sweden, she investigated new possible therapies for lethal brain tumors.
The group of Prof. Ola Hermanson works with two different lethal brain tumor cell types. These cells are used to investigate the effect of substances that could be added to chemotherapy. We aim to reduce long-term complications in children and enhance therapy outcome of all patients. Even though tumors have been known for a long time and surgical advances allow for safer biopsy of the tumor, they are not curable yet. Additionally, they show resistance to current treatment options. Neither irradiation nor chemotherapy lead to a long-term cure of the patients. Instead, both options go along with neurological complications.
Neural stem cells are important cells in the brain. They can migrate to a site of injury, like the site of the tumor after a biopsy. There, they help in regenerating the tissue. However, tumor treatment cannot differentiate between these cells and the unwanted tumor cells. By finding a substance that specifically protects our neural stem cells, we hope to reduce long-term complications. Lithium is an element that is already used in the treatment of other neurological diseases. The group already saw protective effects regarding neural stem cells. During her internship, Emma could show that Lithium does not protect tumor cells. In a next step, the group will combine the different cells and treatment options. Ultimately, the goal is to change the treatment paradigm in the clinics.
Text: Emma Karp, Elite Graduate Program “Biomedical Neuroscience”
