The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Not-so-Skinny on Muscle Cancer

Click here to read Ken's Cancer Cell commentary on this report of a mouse model of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma derived from white and brown fat progenitor cells.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

DragonSlayer Portland 2012

Our team name at the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation "DragonSlayer" event this year was the Sarcoma Smashers. This was the biggest DragonSlayer event Portland has ever seen. 658 participants whose efforts helped us raise $30,000 for sarcoma research! Check out our flickr link with all of the event photos. To view photos of the event click here as well as here.

Friday, October 5, 2012

International Exchange of Ideas on Sarcomas

We are grateful to our collaborators Monica Suelves and Miquel Angel Peinado at the IMPPC in Barcelona for the invitation to present our results of collaborative studies on epigenetic influences of the cell of origin of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Following this visit, the work of KellerLab-DrukerLab co-mentored HHMI medical student, M. Imran Aslam, entitled, "PDGFR reverses Eph signaling in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma" was presented at the ESF-EMBO Symposium, “Molecular Biology &Innovative Therapies in Sarcomas of Childhood and Adolescence” organized by Beat Schaefer. This latter conference was in Putlusk, Poland, and was perhaps the best rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma conference in 10-15 years. Many collaborations amongst all attendees were created.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

2:1 matching dollars for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma

A pharmaceutical company in the Northeast has offered 2:1 matching dollars to fund research on a kinase inhibitor they make which our lab believes will be of benefit to patients with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The pharmaceutical company is willing to contribute up to $84,000 to match donations from the community of up to $42,000.

This particular drug (kinase inhibitor) has a good rationale for being important exclusively in the alveolar subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma, and it is rare that we find a partner in industry willing to advance a drug just for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma to the clinic. The basic science studies we would do (preclinical studies) are the prelude to clinical trial studies that the pharmaceutical company would pay for in full (usually a >$2M investment on their part).

For more information, please email Charles at keller@ohsu.edu .

Friday, September 14, 2012

COG Fall 2012 Meeting

This Fall's Children's Oncology Group meeting was energized as the new leadership initiatives to incorporate more and more science into clinical trial design are evolving. Presentations from our lab and program included:

- Targets of opportunity for rhabdomyosarcoma (soft tissue sarcoma session)

- Ad Hoc Preclinical Consortia to Support Trial Design for DIPG (brain tumor session)

- The Rally Foundation Legacy Gift Pilot Program (pathology session)

as well as research on two STS committee agents of interest.

Expect an announcement soon on the initiative from the Rally Foundation, one of the leaders in innovative, grassroots childhood cancer research funding.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Rally Foundation takes bold step in Pediatric Cancer Research

Stay tuned for a more formal announcement of a $166,000 grant from the Rally Foundation to fund Legacy Gifts (research autopsy opportunities to find new ways to treat the otherwise untreatable 1 in 5 childhood cancers). Jinu is grateful to be the recipient of this award which brings Legacy Gifts to a national level.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Congratulations, Lara!

We are grateful to the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation and the St Baldrick's Foundation for their combined support of our Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) oncology fellow, Lara Davis, in pursuit of her project for Personalized Osteosarcoma Therapy in man and dog. Lara's studies are in collaboration with a team at Oregon State University, led by Dr. Bernard Seguin. This work was made possible by an initial pilot grant from the Thrasher Foundation as well as longstanding, ongoing support from community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Carter family who drive the Scott Carter Foundation. Scott is a young man for which this project was created... he lost his battle to osteosarcoma in 1993, but his vision of better treatments through research has inspired us find better ways to treat relapsed or newly diagnosed sarcomas.

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.