Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in children. This project studies diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer. A major obstacle in the field of DIPG research is the lack of animal models in which endogenous tumors are induced by representative DIPG genetic mutations in typical DIPG locations. This type of animal models is available for studying most other cancers, including adult brain cancer, and is among the most useful tools for understanding the mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression. However, existing animal models of DIPGs either do not induce endogenous tumors, or do not use representative DIPG genetic muta...

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Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in children. This project studies diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer. A major obstacle in the field of DIPG research is the lack of animal models in which endogenous tumors are induced by representative DIPG genetic mutations in typical DIPG locations. This type of animal models is available for studying most other cancers, including adult brain cancer, and is among the most useful tools for understanding the mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression. However, existing animal models of DIPGs either do not induce endogenous tumors, or do not use representative DIPG genetic mutations, or do not induce tumors in typical DIPG locations. In this project, by taking advantage of his expertise in the in utero electroporation technique, the PI will develop the first mouse models in which endogenous tumors are induced by representative DIPG mutations in typical DIPG locations, and will use these models to address some of the fundamental questions regarding DIPG initiation and progression. These mouse models will be particularly useful tools for understanding the mechanisms of DIPG pathogenesis, and results from the proposed experiments will provide important guidance on future studies aimed to identify novel drug targets for treating DIPGs. Moreover, these mouse models will be useful for testing candidate molecular targets for DIPG therapies in future studies.

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