Dissection of ATRX in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma

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’s lab uses mouse models of DIPG to study the function of proteins that drive tumor growth and to determine how novel anti-cancer drugs can inhibit tumor growth. His lab’s 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. ATRX is a protein that is commonly inactivated in both childhood and adult brain cancers and has recently been implicated in repair of our DNA, or genetic code. As ATRX is inactivated in a subset of DIPGs, Chen Shen, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Becher lab, will study its function in driving tumor growth and in the tumor’s response to radiation therapy, the primary treatment currently used to treat children with DIPG.