Oak Park boy's death spurs UW-Madison scientist's work on treatment for rare brain cancer

A researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is working on developing treatments for the rare and deadly brain cancer that killed an Oak Park boy, who also happened to once be his daughter's classmate.

Owen Shaker was just six years old when he died from diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, a rare brain cancer with no cure that is always deadly.

"Owen was, is, my oldest of three," his mother Amanda said. "We talk about him every day. If there's a light flickering, we talk to him and say hi. When we see a cardinal, we say hi. He is part of our family. He is in our everyday life."

Amanda has made it her mission to fight DIPG, and so has another Owen: Dr. Owen Tamplin at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. When he and Amanda first started talking about medicine, he knew Owen's story.

"I was incredibly touched he knew the story," she said.

But Tamplin didn't just know the story; he knew the "other" Owen.

"My daughter and Owen were in pre-K in Oak Park," he said. "They played together, they were in the same class. We went to birthday parties at their house."

Tamplin didn't set out to research DIPG. He was studying blood stem cells in leukemia treatment.

"Then I moved my lab to UW-Madison in 2020. That was the same year we learned Owen had gotten sick," he said. "That was what really led to my journey studying this particular brain cancer; getting to know Owen and the struggles he went through."

The scientific journey has taken Tamplin to a tiny creature: the zebra fish. But why would anyone use zebra fish to research cancer?

"It turns out they're really similar to us in a lot of ways," Tamplin explained. "Brain development is similar, so are regions of brains. The tumor cells behave very similarly to the way they do in humans."

And zebra fish are transparent, so when they or their water are injected with cancer cells, it's visible.

"We can look at development under the microscope, see where, when these tumors start to form. We can think about how to treat them early on," he said.

The research has brought some positive results. Tamplin said he found a drug, P2, that could work on blood stems cells in fish and also improves transplantations for human patients in clinical trials. He said that development is "promising."

"We're at a stage now, trying to find drugs we can treat the fish with it and see if they can slow tumors," Tamplin said. "Something that's interesting now in clinic is not one treatment, but possibly combinations of treatments, like you get a chemo cocktail."

While a cure is not in sight, the research is exciting.

"I got into research hoping to make a difference. Sometimes it can take many, many years. Despite the challenges, it's a very rewarding path," he said.

Amanda said she feels like the universe sent Tamplin to her.

"We call Owen Tamplin 'Owen Two' in our family. Now he's part of this DIPG community," she said.

And he hopes he can one day say the words he knows they both want to hear: that he's found a treatment.

"I would love to be able to give her good news, to know that we are producing something in the lab to make a contribution," h e said.

There are some coincidences in this story. Owen Tamplin does his research at UW-Madison, which is Amanda's alma mater. And of course there's that same name thing. Amanda said she has no doubt this was meant to be.

To learn more about DIPG visit ChadTough.org which also raises money and works to find the best treatment for the cancer and, one day perhaps, a cure.