Targeting MEK and CDK4/6 in DIPG
Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, is an incurable brain cancer that mostly strikes young children. The median survival rate is less than one year after diagnosis. To date, there are no chemotherapeutic or targeted agents that have proven to be beneficial for treatment of these cancers. Dr. Becher leads one of very few laboratories around the world that focus exclusively on this type of deadly brain cancer. He is using a novel DIPG mouse model to study the function of proteins that drive tumor growth and to determine how novel anti-cancer drugs can inhibit tumor growth. His goal is to identify the most effective drugs against this type of brain cancer and then translate these findings by testing the drugs in clinical trials for children afflicted with this type of brain cancer. In this application, Dr. Becher is proposing to evaluate the anti-cancer activity of two novel cancer drugs alone and in combination in the newly developed improved DIPG mouse models.
