Funded Grants

RENEWAL GRANT

Grantee: The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles
Project Lead: Aparna Bhaduri, PHD
Grant Title: Characterizing PTPRZ1 Mechanism in Cancer as a Therapeutic Target
Grant Type: UKF Seed Grant
Year Awarded: 2022 and 2023
Amount: $100,000
Duration: 2 years

Summary: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and most aggressive form of adult brain cancer. Unfortunately, most patients succumb to the disease within 12 – 18 months of diagnosis as limited treatment options exist. In our previous work, we identified that a cell type that exists in the developing human brain is reactivated as a cancer stem cell. This population, called “outer radial glia” are highly marked by a gene called PTPRZ1 which sits on the cell surface. Importantly, this outer radial glia are very common in human brains during development but very rare in mice, making them hard to study in mouse or rat models of brain development and GBM. This gene, PTPRZ1, has also been shown by others to be required for GBM progression and spread across the brain. These pieces of data indicate that PTPRZ1 should be a tantalizing drug target, especially because it sits partly on the outside of tumor cells. However, the existing literature on PTRPZ1 is conflicted regarding whether its catalytic activity (its functional pocket) is or is not required for tumor progression. This study seeks to characterize how PTRPZ1 works in GBM, to then design a drug to interfere with its function and limit its ability to promote GBM progression.