Lectures and seminars Pediatric Oncology seminar

Speaker

Sara Abu Ajamieh, PhD student (Malin Wickström group)

Title

"Characterization of Teneurin-4 and its Role in Neuroblastoma Tumorigenesis"

Summary

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children, and the high-risk disease remains a therapeutic challenge. Neuroblastoma originates from neural crest cells and impairs neuronal differentiation during early embryonal development. Teneurins (TENM1-4) are cell adhesion molecules highly expressed during embryonal development and function in differentiation. We and others have discovered somatic mutations and structural aberrations of TENM genes in tumors, including neuroblastoma. Here, we identified the significance of TENM4 in neuroblastoma growth, tumorigenicity, and differentiation. We performed siRNA-mediated knock-down of TENM1-4 and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockouts of TENM4 and analyzed the effects on morphology, proliferation, tumorigenicity, and molecular signaling.

Moderator

Malin Wickström

Speaker

Mingzhi Liu, PhD student (Margareta Wilhelm group)

Title

"Modeling Neuroblastoma Using Patient-derived Pluripotent Stem Cells"

Summary

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common malignant extracranial solid tumor in infants and children. Activating mutations in Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) is a common somatic alteration in NB and is the most common mutation found in familial NB. We have reprogrammed healthy fibroblasts from NB patients with germline ALK-R1275Q mutation to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We have differentiated the iPSCs into the neural crest cell and sympathoadrenal lineage cells which are thought to be the origin of NB. By using this cell model, we aim to study the role of ALK mutations in NB initiation.

Moderator

Malin Wickström