Gut microbes may be targeted in the future to treat children with devastating brain tumours

Lily Keane, principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland and a lecturer in the department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC, is focused on targeting this leading cause of brain tumour-related deaths in children. Picture: Tina Darb 

Children with a rare but devastating type of brain tumour may be treated with a probiotic supplement in the future, as research on alternative treatments gathers pace.

Young patients are typically given as little as nine months to live upon diagnosis with a deadly tumour called DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma), or diffuse midline glioma.

University College Cork's Dr Lily Keane, inspired by families who’ve lost children to DIPG, is focused on targeting this leading cause of brain tumour-related deaths in children.

Here in Ireland, between five and 10 children get this diagnosis every year.

“It’s really aggressive and there is very little treatment,” said Dr Keane, who is based in the APC Microbiome Ireland research centre.

In previous research, she showed the brain’s immune system cells, called microglia, help DIPG tumour cells to grow and spread.

Her hope now is to find ways to get the microglia to turn the tumour so it has an anti-tumoral impact, and effectively kills the tumour cells as a therapy. 

Some of this work will use the growing understanding of links between the brain and the collection of bacteria and other organisms in the gut, known as the microbiome.

One of the ways that we think we can maybe reprogramme these cells would be possibly through the microbiome, that’s one potential way.

Dr Keane described this “an emerging area” of science.

“The dream situation is to be able to give a child — and we are a long way from this — to be able to give a child a probiotic because right now the treatment they are getting is really invasive,” she said.

They hope to understand how they can reprogramme the environment in the brain through the gut microbiome.

She stressed this is not yet a reality, but said if this were to be successful, then “we can give them something they can take, like a supplement, when we understand the complexity of that relationship. That would be the dream.” 

She added this could be “either to help their response to therapy or help cure their tumour and also be non-invasive”. 

Dr Keane, from Carrigtwohill, returned to Cork earlier this year after over 14 years researching and studying abroad, including at the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

€360k grant funds ground-breaking research

This potentially ground-breaking research is funded by a grant of about €360,000 from the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation.

Founded by two American families who lost their sons, Chad, 5, and Michael, 6, Dr Keane first came across them in a powerful video on their website.

“That was what really drew me in,” she said. 

“It’s such a sad video but it’s a really inspiring video. His mother really wants Chad’s life to mean something.” 

She has met other families bereaved by DIPG through her work.

“It’s really tough sometimes talking with the parents. It’s hard but it’s really good because it keeps you focused,” she said.

“It is tough talking with the families because they’ve lost their kids but they are also inspirational.” 

Dr Keane is now a principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland, a world-leading Science Foundation Ireland-funded research centre based at University College Cork. 

She also lectures in the department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC.