The Development of Therapy to Overcome Resistance to Targeted Therapy
Written By: Lead Researcher, Dr. Nicholas Foreman, Neuro-Oncologist, Children's Hospital Colorado
Low grade gliomas (LGG) even when they recur after targeted therapy can still be treated in most cases by restarting the same therapy used for the initial diagnosis. However, in some cases the LGG develops resistance to the previously used targeted therapy. This was studied in Dr. Mulchay Levy's lab thanks to OCF's funding.
Dr. Levy's lab found that resistance to targeted therapies when it occurred was due to a process called "autophagy" where tumor cells stayed alive in the face of therapy by essentially partially eating themselves allowing for the development of resistance. This work funded by OCF was of such importance that the National Institute of Health (NIH) subsequently provided $1.25 million to carry the work forward to a clinical trial.
It was shown in patients here in Denver that reversing autophagy with an oral therapy made resistant tumors sensitive to targeted agents again. this is now an ongoing trial (PBTC-055) led from Denver but open in major centers throughout the USA. Already 19 children with LGG are on trial and potentially benefitting from therapy that owes its initial development to the Olivia Caldwell Foundation.
Samples from children treated on PBTC-055, wherever their treatment takes place, will be analyzed in the lab at Children's to determine factors which predict success of this therapy.
Dr. Levy's lab found that resistance to targeted therapies when it occurred was due to a process called "autophagy" where tumor cells stayed alive in the face of therapy by essentially partially eating themselves allowing for the development of resistance. This work funded by OCF was of such importance that the National Institute of Health (NIH) subsequently provided $1.25 million to carry the work forward to a clinical trial.
It was shown in patients here in Denver that reversing autophagy with an oral therapy made resistant tumors sensitive to targeted agents again. this is now an ongoing trial (PBTC-055) led from Denver but open in major centers throughout the USA. Already 19 children with LGG are on trial and potentially benefitting from therapy that owes its initial development to the Olivia Caldwell Foundation.
Samples from children treated on PBTC-055, wherever their treatment takes place, will be analyzed in the lab at Children's to determine factors which predict success of this therapy.