Stichting tegen kanker Beating cancer together

Foundation against cancer: Beating cancer together

On September 22, the Foundation against Cancer invited its donors and partners to the event “Beating Cancer Together” at the AG Campus in Brussels. During this event she presented scientific grants – the Oscars of cancer research, in other words – to Belgian researchers and their teams, our team was one of them.

Team: Frederik De Smet (KU Leuven), Vanessa Vermeirssen (U Gent) and Roel Quintens (SCK-CEN): Targeting radiation-induced plasticity in glioblastoma: from fundamental insights to tailored therapeutic opportunities

Glioblastoma brain tumors remain one of the deadliest cancer types with little effective treatments, and clinical research over the past 15 years has not yet improved the situation. The main problem is the different types of "cancer stem cells". These type cells recover or adapt most quickly after radiation. Therefore, these cells are often the cause of resistance to treatments. In this project, researchers from KULeuven, Ghent University and SCK-CEN will investigate the mechanisms by which cancer stem cells change under the influence of radiotherapy, the cellular changes that contribute to resistance to treatment, and approaches to counteract this phenomenon. To this end, they will use experimental models developed from cancer cells from glioblastoma patients, incorporating recent multiomics (DNA, RNA and protein analysis) and single-cell CRISPR techniques (a kind of "molecular scissors" that cut the DNA onto a specific point in the genome of a target cell). This dataset, will be recorded by computer using in-depth algorithms to relate the main mechanisms.

LKI interview: Meet the expert

LKI Meet the expert

The Leuven Cancer Institute has more than 500 members.
Today LKI would like to introduce Prof. Frederik De Smet, a leading researcher and academic in the field of precision medicine against cancer.
He ended up at KU Leuven through his studies. As fate would have it, an extraordinary opportunity presented itself to set up his lab, which he seized with both hands. Today he directs the renowned Laboratory for Precision Cancer Medicine (LPCM).
His commitment to advancing precision medicine in cancer and his tireless pursuit of medical advancement make him an inspiring and admirable researcher.

QbD annual event

QbD Year event 2023

The QbD Group has been actively supporting our research into glioblastoma after Pieter Van Vlierberghe was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2020 (a close friend of QbD’s CEO Bart Van Acker).
Pieter, unfortunately, succumbed to the disease at the end of 2022 after a courageous battle. However, QbD remains dedicated to continuing the research in honour of Pieter and helping future patients facing this devastating disease.

In 2021 an Endowed chair was created by QbD. Thanks to this support our group and a group from Ghent University were able to join forces to perform Precision Oncology Research on Glioblastoma. 
On June 8th, QbD held its yearly research update event at the beautiful location of Salons van Edel.  
It was an entertaining evening with interesting guest speakers. Dirk Reyn presented his book “Biotech in Vlaanderen”, followed by a talk by Jeroen Baert in which the advantages and pitfalls of AI were discussed, with a great sense of humour. After this, it was time for more serious work and an update was given on the research work on glioblastoma by researchers Frederik De Smet, Yanti De Visser and Winnok De Vos. 

Presenting at ITCC in Vienna by our PhD student Dr Julie Messiaen

Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer: ITCC Conference for the first time in Vienna

Our PhD student Dr Julie Messiaen had the opportunity to present her research work on pediatric brain tumors, at the first conference of the consortium for “Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer in Europe.
On May 25th, the first two-day conference of the consortium for “Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer in Europe” (ITCC) was held in Vienna. St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, St. Anna Children’s Hospital, and the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Department of the Medical University of Vienna welcomed scientists from all over Europe and the USA. The common goal: Improving the treatment of pediatric cancer in the future.
Malignant diseases such as cancer continue to be one of the leading causes of death among children and adolescents. The Consortium for “Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer in Europe” (ITCC) is one of the largest collaborative groups in the field of pediatric oncology, driving the development of new therapies for the treatment of cancer in children and adolescents.

LPCM on ROB TV (local news)

LPCM on ROB TV (local news): KU Leuven is developing a new test to determine the treatment of brain tumours.

(You can find the video and the full interview here)

Due to the large number of different cell types in brain tumours, which all respond differently to treatment, many patients relapse, and the chance of a full recovery is very small.
A new diagnostic test, developed by KU Leuven, indicates that based on a biopsy, whether a treatment can attack all present tumour cells.
As a result, it is possible to determine in advance which therapy would be more effective for each patient. So that no unnecessary treatments are started. The results of this research appear today in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences.

The model was developed for two previously tested treatments and was based on animal models. Before we can use the test in human patients, further clinical studies in the hospital are needed to validate our test. We are currently also expanding our test with 15 other possible therapies, and testing whether this method can also be applied to brain tumours in children. It often takes a long time before new treatments are used in the hospital because, after positive results in the lab, they still have to go through several clinical phases. The advantage of our approach is that we do not develop new treatments but reuse existing ones. Previous clinical research has already shown that these are safe for administration to patients. As soon as our diagnostic test is ready, the therapies can quickly find their way back to the hospital.

Although, due to the cost price and special expertise, it will not be possible to carry out these experiments in every hospital. “What makes our method unique is the fact that it can take into account the heterogeneity of brain tumours. Because not every hospital has the right equipment, we eventually want to work with one central European test hub that can examine the various tumour samples and provide treatment advice to local doctors.” By testing in advance whether patients will benefit from a certain therapy, unnecessary treatments or investigations are not carried out. This saves time, as patients immediately receive the most effective treatment, and also ensures that they do not experience any negative side effects from (expensive) treatments that do not work.

Science figured out: Long-term survivors of glioblastoma

With the support of Kom op tegen Kanker, our PhD student Brecht Decraene is conducting research into long-term survivors of glioblastoma. In this video of science figured out, he explains the purpose of his research.

Falling walls lab : Breaking the wall of glioblastoma one cell at a time. You can watch Yanti’s presentation here!

Congratulations to our PhD student Yanti De Visser. She was selected to participate in the preliminary round of the Falling Walls Lab competition.
Falling walls lab is an international competition in which researchers from all over the world pitch their research or ideas in only three minutes.
KU Leuven organized the Belgian preliminary round to select the candidate for the international finale. The contest took place on March 31 in the Depot in Leuven.
Yanti managed to explain the complexity of her research in functional diagnostics in a three-minute pitch.

Photo: Wetenschaps communicatie KU Leuven. Yanti in action

Presenting at SNO meeting 2021 Boston

From left to right: Dr. Julie Messiaen, Dena Panovska, Prof. Frederik De Smet

From November 18 until November 21, some of our PhD students had the opportunity to present their work at the annual SNO meeting in Boston.
Their hard work has been rewarded with the following recognitions:

Best basic science award: Dena Panovska
Selected oral presentation: Julie Messiaen and Dena Panovska
Poster award: Maxime Vanmechelen

QBD Chair for Precision Oncology Research in Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor in adults and is characterized by its extremely poor prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. Despite our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of these tumors, the standard treatment for glioblastoma has not changed over the past 15 years. Therefore, it is crucial to continue to seek new therapeutic strategies for this tumor type.

With the funding of QbD, the LPCM (Laboratory for Precision Cancer Medicine - KU Leuven), in collaboration with Lab Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis (UGent), will investigate the clinical potential of asparaginase, a therapeutic currently used for the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia, for the treatment of glioblastoma. Recently developed new asparaginase variants with reduced toxicity will be tested, mainly in combination with chemotherapeutics, for the treatment of glioblastoma in both newly diagnosed and relapsed patients. The aim is to gain the necessary insights into the molecular and pathological mechanisms of this new treatment in preparation for a potential clinical pathway.

More information:

• KULeuven

• LKI

From Left to right: Prof. Frederik De Smet, Bart Van Acker (QbD) and rector Luc Sels

Kom op tegen kanker grant to unravel various cancer types

The team of Prof. De Smet and Prof. Bosisio received a grant from the ‘Kom op tegen kanker” foundation to unravel the single-cell architecture of 6 major cancer types using the MILAN platform.

More information can be found at:

kom op tegen kanker

het Leuven kanker instituut