The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Monday, October 20, 2014

exciting news

How much is a tumor like a wound? Will tumor cells interact with the body's normal muscle stem cells, co-opting them for advantage to the tumor? Can IL-4 Receptor antibodies block this process? These are the questions in our NIH R01 grant application that was scored this week in the top 4% of grants for that review cycle (usually, the top 9% of grants are funded). We're very excited about this grant, and the probable 5 years of funding to pursue these question that we think will benefit patients with rhabdomyosarcoma in a tangible way. Kudos to Megan, who took strong work by Imran, Tohru and GH to the next level and made this project possible.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

SARC SPORE meeting

We presented our research project in collaboration with Dr. David Langenau (MGH) at today's SARC clinical trial consortium SPORE meeting - we are grateful for this 2 year pilot project funding. Differentiation as a therapy for rhabdomyosarcoma? possibly!

Friday, October 3, 2014

upcoming lab participation & talks

AACR Pediatric Cancer Think Tank (October 2014)
Pablove Foundation Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Symposium Think Tank (November 2014)
AACR Recent Advances Sessions (April 2015)
AACR Special Conference on The Basic Science of Sarcomas (November 2015)

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Children's Oncology Group Fall Meeting

This meeting was productive. Our lab presented at the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Chemotherapy Breakout session on "Three novel target-therapy pairs for potential clinical trials within 18 months?", as well as at the CNS session on "Ad Hoc Preclinical Consortia to Support Trial Design". Both presentations bridged scientific/drug discovery and the potential initiation of clinical trials.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

We are grateful to collaborator Chris Vakoc for the opportunity to present the lecture, "Rhabdomyosarcoma: Developmental Origins & Therapeutic Opportunities" as the prelude to a collaboration made possible by generous rhabdomyosarcoma patient advocates in this community.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Save the Date: Rhabdomyosarcoma & Soft Tissue Sarcoma Conference

The Pablove Foundation is hosting a scientific conference on rhabdomyosarcoma & soft tissue sarcoma November 6-8, 2014 in Los Angeles. This is a by-invitation meeting for clinician-scientists and researchers from the US and abroad; however, the symposium on Saturday November 8 will be open to the public. Registration information will likely be available late Summer/early Fall through the Pablove Foundation website.

update: the website is now open for registration.

Friday, August 29, 2014

2014 Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-course

It was an exciting week for the participants of the 2014 Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-course. The

goal was to evaluate progress 2000-2014 in cooperative group clinical trials of new agents for rhabdomyosarcoma. The students concluded that in such trials >525 patients had been planned, at a potential overall cost well exceeding $4.7M (not counting the expense of the drugs themselves). Many of the results of these clinical trials are still pending. That said, this was a very hardworking group of students who really came together for a high-level project and did a terrific job.

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.