Malignant Glioma Fact Sheet

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Embryonic stem cells like these share many features in common with so-called cancer stem cells that many researchers think form the heart of cancers. Learn more about this image by clicking on it or see other stem cell images on our Flickr Photostream.

CIRM funds research in all types of cancer, including malignant glioma. Research ranges from projects understanding the possible stem cell origins of cancer to therapies using stem cells to deliver toxic compounds to tumors.

If you want to learn more about CIRM funding decisions or make a comment directly to our board, join us at a public meeting. You can find agendas for upcoming public meetings on our meetings page.

Learn more about stem cell research:
Stem Cell Basics Primer | Stem Cell Videos | What We Fund

Find clinical trials:
CIRM does not track stem cell clinical trials. If you or a family member is interested in participating in a clinical trial, please see the national trial database to find a trial near you: clinicaltrials.gov

The role of stem cell research in glioma

Despite enormous advances in the treatment of cancer with imaging, surgical and radiation techniques - malignant brain tumors (high-grade gliomas) remain incurable, with survival often measured in months.

Gliomas are particularly difficult to treat because they are made up of tumor cells that spread throughout the brain, not remaining in a single area which could normally be targeted with therapy.

Stem cell therapy for patients with malignant gliomas is particularly important because it offers the very real chance that cancer killing agents can be targeted directly to the tumor cells, wherever they may be in the brain, using stem cells as a delivery vehicle for therapies and drugs.

Dr Karen Aboody and her team at the City of Hope Hospital medical center in Duarte, have been funded by CIRM to create a human neural cell line with the ability to target brain tumor cells and deliver a powerful chemotherapeutic agent, SN-38, selectively at tumor sites, effectively destroying invasive glioma cells while sparing normal tissues. (Here is a summary of her award.) This research builds on work by Dr. Aboody’s team to develop a neural stem cell line that is currently being tested in high-grade glioma patients in a clinical trial at City of Hope.

In addition to potentially improving lifespan by concentrating the powerful chemotherapeutic agent selectively at tumor sites, this stem cell strategy should significantly decrease toxic side-effects to normal tissues, thus preserving or improving the patient's quality of life.

In other CIRM-funded research, scientists at UCSF, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Sanford-Burnham Institute are developing a treatment for a specific type of glioma, glioblastoma. They are evaluating a series of genetically modified stem cell lines designed to carry cancer killing agents directly to tumor cells and testing these cells in mouse models of glioblastoma. (Here is a summary of the award.)The scientists aim to determine the best human stem cell line plus genetic manipulation to take into human clinical trials.

Dr Noriyuki Kasahara and his team at UCLA are studying modified viruses which can infect tumor cells and trigger them to make anti-tumor proteins, essentially causing the tumor cells to commit suicide. (Here is a summary of that award.) The researchers are working to develop human stem cells that can serve as factories for these killer viruses and carry them directly to brain tumor cells while sparing normal, healthy tissue.

CIRM Grants Targeting Glioma

CIRM Cancer Stem Cell Videos

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