The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 01/01/2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Congratulations, Jinu !

Congratulations to Jinu, whose first author paper on drug resistance to Igf1 Receptor inhibitors was accepted today to the journal, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. This study is of relevance to a Children's Oncology Group study run by OHSU co-author Dr. Suman Malempati, who is investigating Igf1 Receptor inhibitors in metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. Other key contributors included Suresh Prajapati, Koichi Nishijo, Beverly Schaffer, Eri Taniguchi, Aoife Kilcoyne, Amanda McCleish, Laura Nelon and Frank Giles (UTHSCSA), Argiris Efstratiadis (Academy of Athens), Robin D. LeGallo (University of Virginia), Brent M. Nowak (UTSA) and Brian Rubin (Cleveland Clinic). Different aspects of this study were funded by the Scott Carter Foundation, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foudnation, Hyundai Hope on Wheels Program and the National Cancer Institute.

Nicely done, Jinu!

[ 4/11/2011: Jinu's paper is the cover article for April. ]
[ 8/30/2012: see the ALSF video update here. ]

Friday, January 28, 2011

Dog Osteosarcoma Project

We couldn't be more excited about the advocacy of our collaborator, Dr. Jeffrey Tyner, in presenting our multi-institution research program to identify better treatments for pet dogs that develop osteosarcoma. Jeff is a member of the Druker laboratory, and a key project contributor for this important initiative to understand childhood and canine osteosarcoma. The video on Fox News can be seen here. Other collaborators on this project include Oregon State University veterinary faculty Bernard Séguin, Shay Bracha, Stuart Helfand and John Mata; OHSU Epidemiology faculty Thuan Nguyen and Motomi Mori; Doernbecher Pediatric Oncology faculty Suman Malempati; Bioinformatics specialist Ranadip Pal; Druker laboratory member Marc Loriaux; and of course the core team in the KellerLab who drive this Pediatric Cancer Biology Program project: Nicolle Hofmann and Jinu Abraham, with the aid of Elaine Huang and incoming med-peds fellow, Lara Davis.

Friday, January 7, 2011

McAfee Foundation funds Preclinical Therapeutic Study for Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma

We are grateful to the Joanna McAfee Childhood Cancer Foundation for their unwaivering 3nd grant to our lab in the amount of $15,000 to evaluate a novel new compound for efficacy in a genetically-engineered mouse model of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. This study is done as part of the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative at the our institution... an effort to speed discovery of clinically-feasible agents that can be moved to clinical trials for childhood cancer. This work is done in the spirit of helping children like Joanna Rae McAfee, who faced the tremendous challenge of this disease and whose memory lives on to inspire research teams and communities to work together in making rhabdomyosarcoma a uniformly curable disease.

Funding from the JMCCF is raised with such grass-roots efforts as the annual Macy Easom Memorial Charity Golf Tournament. Macy was a young girl who, like Joanna, lost her battle against childhood cancer. Macy's parents and Joanna's parents (along with help from an amazing community of volunteers) organize this annual benefit to raise awareness and to provide tangible support to families of children currently going through their own treatment. To see what an amazingly pro-active group the JMCCF represents, visit their Events page for a list of presentations and fundraising activities over the past year. Simply amazing.

click below to see the results of our prior JMCCF-funded research!

2-29-2012

This is an update of our project funded by JMCCF. Click below to check out our 2010-2011 video report.

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.