|
 | Profile |  |
The RCH Cancer Research Laboratory is a team of scientists and doctors that aims to better understand the biology of childhood brain tumours. Brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer death and disability in children and new approaches to treatment are urgently needed. The RCH Cancer Research Laboratory is a team of scientists and doctors that aims to better understand the biology of childhood brain tumours. This information will be used to develop innovative, highly selective treatments for these malignant cancers. Key collaborations with strong local and international scientific partners have been developed and proven to be productive. Primary brain tumours resected at the RCH are now routinely collected and studied by our laboratory immediately following surgery. Current studies build on our previous work that demonstrated that medulloblastomas are highly vulnerable to retinoid agonists, histone deacetylase inhibition, and Sonic Hedgehog and Notch pathway inhibition.
A major program focus is the biology of brain tumour initiating cells with stem-like properties. Malignant tumour initiating cells capable of uncontrolled self-renewal and resistant to differentiation have been shown to be essential for the genesis of gliomas and medulloblastomas.
It is likely that tumour growth and survival is dependent on these cells and that effective tumour treatment requires their eradication. Prior pre-clinical therapeutic studies have focused on the effects on bulk tumours. Understanding of the mechanisms of neural tumour stem cell survival will be central to developing better therapies targeted against brain tumours. To elucidate these mechanisms our team is studying tumour initiating cells in human primary brain tumours, as well as established cell lines, using a functional approach. | Keywords | |
|
» Contacts
