Identification of Key Genetic and Growth Control Pathway Changes in Fibrillary Astrocytoma that Represents Potential Molecular

This study, led by principal investigators Dr. David Gutmann and Dr. Tobey MacDonald of Washington University, represents a collaborative project that builds upon a 2006 project funded by Brain Tumor Society (BTS) Boston. The 2006 project resulted in the first truly comprehensive genomic, genetic and proteomic analysis of juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas (JPAs). This new project will focus on pediatric fibrillary astrocytomas (PFA) as it continues to employ multiple complementary high-throughput technologies to identify key molecular genetic changes (DNA, RNA and protein) and growth control pathways that represent potential molecular targets for future therapeutic drug design. This approach, leading to “targeted therapeutics,” has had great success in a number of adult cancers. Unfortunately, unlike some of the other common childhood tumors, PFA has not been subjected to the same rigorous and comprehensive molecular analysis that constitutes the necessary first step for the development of targeted therapeutics. No single study has analyzed a sufficiently large enough sample size, and more importantly, no investigation has concurrently studied the DNA, RNA and corresponding protein expression of each individual tumor to make definitive and statistically valid conclusions regarding the molecular basis of PFA.

Funded in 2007.