In FY2017, we continued work on our discovery that upregulation of PDGFR-beta (platelet derived growth factor receptor beta) plays a role in the development of resistance to IGF-1R antibody therapy in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. This was the second bypass pathway identified in the lab and was published during this past year. In addition, we opened a clinical trial and began enrolling patients to test the combination of an IGF-1R antibody (ganitumab) with dasatinib, a multi-kinase inhibitor targeting the SRC-family kinase YES. This trial was based on work in our lab, showing that this combination resulted in significant cell death and tumor inhibition in mouse models of rhabdomyosarcoma. This clinical trial is ongoing.
| Heske, Christine M; Yeung, Choh; Mendoza, Arnulfo et al. (2016) The Role of PDGFR-? Activation in Acquired Resistance to IGF-1R Blockade in Preclinical Models of Rhabdomyosarcoma. Transl Oncol 9:540-547 |
