Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is the deadliest brainstem cancer in children, and significant therapeutic progress has not been made in decades. DIPG is resistant to pro-apoptotic chemotherapeutics, exhibits a profile of oxidative stress, and has disrupted cellular metabolism. Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death mediated by the accumulation of toxic lipid peroxides. The Lyssiotis lab recently found that the disrupted oxidative/metabolic state in DIPG sensitizes these cells to ferroptotic cell death.

Background

Preliminary data suggests that EWS-FLI1, a pathognomonic translocation of a tumor from Ewing’s sarcoma (ES) on mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) origin, may alter the menin interactome. It has been recently discovered that menin is critical for ES tumorigenicity, however, the binding partners of menin in the context of ES are currently unknown.

Background