Timeframe: 2021 – 2023 Goal: Investigate the potential of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and kinase inhibitors as potential therapeutic options in pre-clinical models Principal Investigator: John Scott, PhD Study overview: In the previously funded work, the investigators discovered that DNAJ-PKAc forms a complex with heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and mitogenic kinases (kinase enzymes …
Timeframe: 2016 – 2017 Goals: Determine if T cells can be generated that react to FLC’s characteristic fusion protein Principal Investigator: Ephraim Fuchs, MD Study overview: In FLC, the characteristic DNAJB1-PRKACA fusion creates a novel protein with a unique amino acid sequence occurring at the junction of these two proteins. This unique amino acid sequence …
Timeframe: 2014 – 2018 Goals: Develop and implement a clinical trial for combined liver and bone marrow transplantation as a treatment for liver-confined FLC Principal Investigator: Ephraim Fuchs, MD Study overview: This grant supported the development of a phase II, single center study to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of combining bone marrow transplantation and …
Timeframe: 2019 – 2021 Goal: Investigate the potential of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) as therapeutic options for FLC Principal Investigator: John Scott, PhD Study overview: A main goal of this project was to determine how the abnormal form of protein kinase A (PKA) present in fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) cells …
Timeframe: 2016 – 2019 Goal: Develop and fund a series of three-year FLC research fellowships Overview: With this grant, FCF partnered with the prestigious Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to specifically focus on the role immunotherapy could have in creating curative therapies for fibrolamellar. CRI has been promoting immunotherapy research for 65 years, long before the …
Timeframe: 2019 – 2020 Goal: Identify optimal culture conditions for FLC organoidsPrincipal Investigator: Jian Liu, PhD Study overview: Scientific investigators often use cultures, dishes containing tumor cells, to test candidate treatments for a disease. The type of cultures that most accurately reflect the properties of cells as if they were inside the body are “organoids”, …
Timeframe: 2015 – 2017 Goal: Validating the RNA signature, expression and function in FLCPrincipal Investigator: Praveen Sethupathy, PhD Study overview: In past work at UNC, a survey of numerous drugs under consideration for FLC use proved non-effective or minimally effective in limiting the growth of the first FLC tumor model. This indicated that completely new …
Timeframe: 2010 – 2011 Goals: Research coordination and molecular analysis for FLC Principal Investigators: W. David Hankins, MD Study overview: In addition to coordinating ICARE’s fibrolamellar exploration efforts (described separately) during FCF’s one-year partnership with ICARE, Dr. Hankins’ lab received a “Freedom of Pursuit” unrestricted grant, intended to fund bioinformatics and molecular (DNA, RNA and …
Timeframe: 2010 – 2011 Goals: Identify and launch initial fibrolamellar carcinoma research efforts Principal Investigators: W. David Hankins, MD Study overview: The International Cancer Alliance for Research and Education (ICARE) focuses its programs on building and funding local and international medical academic research teams (I-TEAMS) that identify, initiate and fund cutting-edge research projects to support …