By Rachele Rosati | Research Fellow
Dear Cure First and Project Neuroblastoma supporters,
Last time that I updated you I was in the process of confirming new targeted drugs that appeared to be effective in the first 5 for neuroblastoma (NBL) samples. These were received from Dr. John Maris's Laboratory at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
To strengthen the results about the generalization of our discovery, we decided to broaden our screen to at least 10 high-risk NBL samples. As you may know already from our previous updates, these tumor cells were originated from patients were then grown and maintained in avatar mice.
During the process of broadening our drug screen, I encountered several difficulties in expanding some of the samples in vitro. This required experimenting with different "culturing media", which is what cancer cells grow in while in a dish.
I am happy to report that by adjusting the cancer culture conditions and giving the cells a proper "matrix" to grow, I am now hopeful that the NB cancer cells will multiply in vitro. Soon we will have new results concerning the drug response of additional samples to share!
Thanks for your invaluable support as we search for new cures for neuroblastoma!
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
