Pediatric cancers of neural ectodermal origin are the most common solid tumor in children and are now the most common cause of cancer-related death in children. The goal of this grant is to define drugable targets for two of the most common pediatric cancers of the central nervous system - malignant medulloblastoma and low-grade astrocytoma. Neither of these tumors exhibits gross chromosomal instability that characterizes malignant astrocytomas in adults. Both tumors are generally wild type for the tumor suppressor genes most commonly mutated in adult CNS cancers - p53, RB and PTEN. On the other hand, upregulated kinase activity has been associated with poor outcome or increased metastatic potential in these tumors. The hypothesis of this grant is that the malignant phenotype for medulloblastoma and also for low-grade astrocytoma reflects a gain-of-function mutation within a single protein kinase (or a small number of kinases) unique to each tumor type. Recent insights into the genetics of malignant melanoma suggest that this hypothesis is reasonable. We have assembled a tripartite team in 1) Pediatric Oncology/Neuro Pathology, 2) Molecular Biology/Bioinformatics and 3) Signal Transduction/Drug Discovery that makes the hypothesis testable and our goal achievable. Our study plan has three aims: (1) to isolate DNA for mutation analysis from at least 15 medulloblastoma and 15 low-grade astrocytomas a year for three years. (2) to identify mutations in all tyrosine kinases and all serine/threonine and lipid kinases involved in oncogenic signaling pathways. Towards this end, we will sequence roughly 4000 exons, covering the entire coding sequences of tyrosine kinases and of all oncogenic serine/threonine kinases as well as key portions of the remaining serine/threonine kinases and type 1 PI3 kinases, (3) to characterize the biochemical activity and biological activity of the mutant kinases. Mutant kinases will be subjected to a battery of analytical tests to see if the mutation increases the specific activity of the kinase in vitro or in cells. Finally, we will determine if the mutation increases the transformation potential of the kinase. The research will lead to a new generation of selective therapeutics for children with brain cancer. Since cancers of children are often """"""""informative"""""""" in a larger context, it is likely that these medicines will find use for more frequent adult cancers.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA105607-04
Application #
7227166
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-CG (01))
Program Officer
Arya, Suresh
Project Start
2004-07-15
Project End
2009-04-30
Budget Start
2007-05-01
Budget End
2008-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$686,328
Indirect Cost
Name
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
076580745
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02215
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Pugh, Trevor J; Weeraratne, Shyamal Dilhan; Archer, Tenley C et al. (2012) Medulloblastoma exome sequencing uncovers subtype-specific somatic mutations. Nature 488:106-10
Tamayo, Pablo; Cho, Yoon-Jae; Tsherniak, Aviad et al. (2011) Predicting relapse in patients with medulloblastoma by integrating evidence from clinical and genomic features. J Clin Oncol 29:1415-23
Lo, Ken C; Ma, Changxing; Bundy, Brian N et al. (2007) Gain of 1q is a potential univariate negative prognostic marker for survival in medulloblastoma. Clin Cancer Res 13:7022-8
Lo, Ken C; Rossi, Michael R; Burkhardt, Tania et al. (2007) Overlay analysis of the oligonucleotide array gene expression profiles and copy number abnormalities as determined by array comparative genomic hybridization in medulloblastomas. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 46:53-66
De Bortoli, Massimiliano; Castellino, Robert C; Lu, Xin-Yan et al. (2006) Medulloblastoma outcome is adversely associated with overexpression of EEF1D, RPL30, and RPS20 on the long arm of chromosome 8. BMC Cancer 6:223