The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 2004

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma mouse model revealed

Charles Keller, Ben Arenkiel, Nabeel El-Bardeesy, Cheryl Coffin, Ronald DePinho, Mario Capecchi. “Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcomas in Conditional Pax3:Fkhr Mice: Cooperativity of Ink4a/ARF and Trp53 Loss of Function,” Genes & Development, 18(21) 2614-26, November 2004 [PubMed UID 15489287]

Monday, November 15, 2004

Pax3:Fkhr biology in Embryogenesis

Charles Keller, Mark S. Hansen, Cheryl Coffin, Mario Capecchi. “Pax3:Fkhr interferes with Embryonic Pax3 and Pax7 Function: Implications for Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma Cell of Origin,” Genes & Development, 18(21) 2608-13, November 2004 [PubMed UID 15520281]

Comment in: Nicola McCarthy. Divining forks for developing tumours. Nature Reviews | Cancer. 2004; Volume 4:835

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Muscling in on a Deadly Cancer

This was an article pusblished at the University of Utah News and Public Relations. In a pair of new studies, University of Utah scientists took early but significant steps to fight a particularly deadly childhood muscle cancer by identifying some of the genetic events that cause the disease and then engineering mice that develop the tumors. The genetic events might be targets for new drugs that could be tested on the mice. Click here to read more.

Lee Siegel. Press Release 10/14/2004.

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

GST Polymorphism relating to Childhood Cancer Risk

Phillip Barnette, Rebecca Scholl, Mary Blandford, Linda Ballard, Alexander Tsodikov, Jalene Magee, Susana Williams, Margaret Robertson, Francis Ali-Osman, Richard Lemons, Charles Keller. “High Throughput Detection of Glutathione S-Transferase Polymorphic Alleles in a Pediatric Cancer Population,” Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention 2004; 13:304-313 [PubMed UID 14973099]

Sunday, February 15, 2004

Notes on the clinical care of Myofibrosarcoma

Charles Keller, Callie Gibbs, Steven Kelly, Jeffrey Haller, Keith White, Cheryl Coffin, Richard Lemons. “Low Grade Myofibrosarcoma of the Head and Neck: Importance of Early Referral and Surgical Therapy,” Journal of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology 2004; 26:119-120 [PubMed UID 14767203]

You Can Participate in our Novel Therapeutics Studies !

One would like to think that tangibly better treatments for rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and other childhood cancers can be found in a matter of years, instead of tens of years. Finding new treatments starts with research, perhaps even a new research approach to identifying effective new treatments. The Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute focuses on finding molecules in childhood cancers that can be directly turned off or on by drugs so that the tumor stops growing. Behind our novel approach is the use of genetically-engineered mice. Our Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative uses mice modified from before birth so that at a certain age, and in a certain tissue, the same mutations found in a child’s cancer are activated in the mouse. These special mouse models of childhood cancer can be used to test a treatment to see whether the tumor growth and spread (metastasis) can be reversed. The specific aspect of these mice having normal immune systems is a real plus, too, because white blood cells play an important role in how tumors evolve and respond to therapy.

Our program is designed around community participation. Through the Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute, you can contribute directly to this grass-roots initiative. Donations through small gifts or grants will assist in studying compounds that may be effective in treating such childhood cancers as alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, or medulloblastoma (the alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma model was featured by Dr. Keller's long time collaborator and former mentor, 2007 Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi, in his Nobel Prize lecture {see 16 minutes onward}.)

For additional information regarding supporting this program please contact Charles Keller at charles@cc-tdi.org. Results obtained through these studies will be shared with the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, as well as the Children’s Oncology Group, which designs clinical trials for childhood cancer.