UT Southwestern Medical Center – Dallas, Texas
Dr. Rene Galindo
Researchers offer hope for children with aggressive cancer
The consequences of successfully treating 5-year-old Sydney Mayrell’s aggressive soft-tissue cancer were severe: Chemotherapy made her hair fall out, surgery left her facing months of physical therapy, and radiation treatment eventually could cause secondary cancers.
That is why Dr. Rene Galindo is hopeful the discovery by researchers in his laboratory of a mechanism that blocks the ability of cancerous rhabdomyosarcoma cells to divide and grow could lead to better treatments. Rhabdo, an aggressive childhood disease, has both a high mortality rate and, for those who survive, harsh treatments that can result in disabilities and disfigurements.
“Our goal is not only to improve mortality but to come up with therapies that are gentler and better tolerated,” said Dr. Galindo, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Galindo’s study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, identifies the role for a gene, named TANC1, to convert otherwise normal muscle cells in fruit flies into cells that behave as aggressive rhabdo-type cells. Silencing the gene prevents otherwise healthy cells from becoming cancerous and even reverts cancerous cells to a non-cancerous state. Researchers in the Galindo lab also replicated the results in human rhabdo tumor cells.
Click on link below to see a video about Dr. Galindos work.
http://www.the33tv.com/kdaf/kdaf-031912-rhabdo-breakthrough-20120319,0,7751605.premiumvideo
The consequences of successfully treating 5-year-old Sydney Mayrell’s aggressive soft-tissue cancer were severe: Chemotherapy made her hair fall out, surgery left her facing months of physical therapy, and radiation treatment eventually could cause secondary cancers.
That is why Dr. Rene Galindo is hopeful the discovery by researchers in his laboratory of a mechanism that blocks the ability of cancerous rhabdomyosarcoma cells to divide and grow could lead to better treatments. Rhabdo, an aggressive childhood disease, has both a high mortality rate and, for those who survive, harsh treatments that can result in disabilities and disfigurements.
“Our goal is not only to improve mortality but to come up with therapies that are gentler and better tolerated,” said Dr. Galindo, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Galindo’s study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, identifies the role for a gene, named TANC1, to convert otherwise normal muscle cells in fruit flies into cells that behave as aggressive rhabdo-type cells. Silencing the gene prevents otherwise healthy cells from becoming cancerous and even reverts cancerous cells to a non-cancerous state. Researchers in the Galindo lab also replicated the results in human rhabdo tumor cells.
Click on link below to see a video about Dr. Galindos work.
http://www.the33tv.com/kdaf/kdaf-031912-rhabdo-breakthrough-20120319,0,7751605.premiumvideo
Childrens Cancer Therapy Development Institute (CCTDI)- Portland, Oregon
Dr. Charles Keller
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 Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative (at the Pediatric Cancer Biology \Program, Pape’ Family Pediatric Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University) 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.
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.
Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles – Los Angeles , California
Dr. Timothy Triche
Timothy J. Triche, M.D., Ph. D., will Develop the New Center for Personalized Medicine at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES – Timothy J. Triche, M.D., Ph.D., who has been chair of the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and
pathologist-in-chief at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and vice chairman of the Department of Pathology and professor of pathology and pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine since 1988, will focus “…his significant background and experience, and his considerable intellectual capital,” on the development of the new Center for Personalized Medicine (CPM), which will coordinate, support and expand the hospital’s basic and translational research in genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, molecular genetics, molecular microbiology and
cytogenetics, according to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles President and CEO Richard D. Cordova, FACHE. “This is the future,” Mr. Cordova said, adding that we are “…fortunate to have a person of Dr. Triche’s background and experience to develop and lead this new initiative at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.” He said that it is his expectation that Dr. Triche will become the first director of the Center for Personalized Medicine.He said that the CPM at Childrens hospital Los Angeles will coordinate and support “…our work in
genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, especially as applied to the diagnosis, management and treatment of diseases in children,” adding that it is “…an absolutely vital component of our commitment to the research enterprise, consistent with our [Vision 2020] research planning and the vital work of The Saban Research Institute.” Dr. Triche will also spend his time and talent on his own substantial research program and the clinical services provided by the Molecular Pathology and Genomics Laboratory. At present, his annual research funding is in excess of $3 million per year and supports six graduate students, two post-doctoral fellows, junior faculty, two core facilities, and multiple national and international collaborations. Dr. Triche has agreed to remain as chair of the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and pathologist-in-chief while we conduct a national search for his successor; the search committee, which will be chaired by Dr. Stuart E. Siegel, who is head of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and director of the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and professor and vice chairman of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Triche was director of Specialized Diagnostics, Pathology, at the National Institutes of Health and section chief in the Laboratory of Pathology at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, from 1975 to 1988. He also has been a member of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees (1989-95) and the Research Institute (1995-2000), which is now The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Triche is board certified in anatomic pathology.His major areas of research interest include biology and molecular genetics of childhood and adult cancer; correlation of sarcoma gene expression profiles and clinical outcomes; identification and validation of diagnostic,prognostic and therapeutic gene targets; mechanisms of action of chimeric genes in childhood sarcomas; the development of systemic targeted small molecule and siRNA cancer therapy; and pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. Most recently, the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Beckman Foundation, the USC Provost’s Genomic Initiative, the Whittier Foundation, the Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Children’s Oncology Group are funding his research.
