Lead investigator: Prof Deb Tweddle, Newcastle University
Funded by The Little Princess Trust and administered by CCLG
Funded July 2017
Award: £99,999.00
High risk neuroblastoma is one of the most difficult childhood cancers to cure. Around half of these high risk neuroblastomas have specific genetic changes, which affects the ability of the DNA to repair itself. Exploiting defects in this ‘DNA damage response’ provides opportunities for targeted treatment for this disease. We hypothesise that neuroblastomas with these defects will be more sensitive to certain special compounds called ‘inhibitors’, as well as specific chemotherapies, both alone and in combination with each other.
This study will help us to understand these genetic changes in neuroblastoma cells, and understand the effects of specific inhibitors, both alone and in combinations with conventional chemotherapy. We will also develop biomarkers to predict which patients will respond to the inhibitors and whether they work in the way they are intended.