Study the dissemination of DIPGs
Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is a devastating high-grade glioma localized in the brainstem that occurs almost exclusively in children. The significant mortality rates of DIPG stem largely from its capacity to invade adjacent normal brain. We have previously published studies identifying the axon guidance factor, neogenin as a key driver regulating brain tumor cell invasion in medulloblastoma, glioblastoma and DIPG in vitro. Lately, we have expanded this work with an in vivo model to validate neogenin as promising inducer of DIPG invasion. Our findings suggests that neogenin is a major contributor of DIPG cell invasion and dissemination. The blockade of neogenin in DIPG cells demonstrates the potential utility of neogenin as potential therapeutic target, capable of reducing tumor growth and stopping tumor cell dissemination.
Selected Publications:
- J Sesen, A Ghalali, T Martinez, J Driscoll, KP Fehnel, E Smith. DIPG-14. Neogenin Knockout Stops the Invasion and Dissemination of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomasin vivo. Neuro-Oncology 24 (Suppl 1), i20 2022.