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Baoli Hu, PhD, associate professor of Neurological Surgery at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R01 grant1 to further his research into the molecular mechanisms of medulloblastoma metastasis, the most formidable challenge in pediatric brain tumor treatment.
Dr. Hu's co-investigators include Sarah J Hainer, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences; Edward V. Prochownik, MD, PhD, the Paul C. Gaffney Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics; and Ian F. Pollack, MD, FACS, FAAP, Leland Albright Professor and Chief Emeritus of Pediatric Neurosurgery at UPMC Children's. In addition, Jan H Beumer, PhD, professor in the Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine also is a co-investigator.
Prior research2 by Dr. Hu and colleagues, published in Nature Cell Biology in 2023, discovered that medulloblastomas smartly hijack a skill that normal brain cells use during their early development to help tumors spread out or metastasize. To find out how medulloblastoma cells metastasize, researchers have leveraged medulloblastoma patient data and experimental mouse data to identify a gene, called SMARCD3 or BAF60C, whose levels are significantly higher in disseminated tumors than those in nondisseminated tumors.
Dr. Hu’s new R01 will greatly expand this research line to understand the role of SMARCD3 in medulloblastoma formation and metastasis. Developing drugs that can dismantle tumor cells to obtain this capability might pave the way for new and effective treatments.
“Children with nondisseminated medulloblastoma may have a high likelihood of long-term survival, however, if the tumors have spread, the survival rate in children will be significantly reduced,” says Dr. Hu. “Longstanding challenges that we face in the field include understanding how tumors are able to spread and how we can stop tumor metastasis in basic science and clinical treatment.
Dr. Hu's study also has an important translational aspect. Using preclinical medulloblastoma models, the team will test a new drug, which is currently tested in a clinical trial for the treatment of Myelofibrosis, in the treatment of metastatic medulloblastoma.
“This new NIH grant will continue to support our research in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of medulloblastoma formation and metastasis, so that we can develop new therapeutic strategies based on our defined cancer targets,” says Dr. Hu.
Learn More About Dr. Hu and Hu Laboratory.
References and Further Reading