FCF is pleased to announce that we have awarded Dr. Julien Sage of Stanford University a one-year grant entitled “Development of pre- clinical murine models for fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma”.

Dr. Sage is recognized as a world leader in using genome-editing to develop and study genetically-engineered mouse models for human cancers, including lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer. This new study proposes to extend Dr. Sage’s previous work in FLC. In this new study, his team will take tumor lines generated from mouse tumors, characterize those tumors, and propagate them in mice with intact immune systems. This will allow investigation of the interactions between FLC tumor cells and immune cells, and allow the use of these models in proof-of-concept testing of a potential therapy.

Currently, the absence of a “pure” immunocompetent mouse model of FLC remains a key gap in the availability of model systems for researchers studying the disease.