Replicating Cancer’s First Steps – Advanced lab models show how childhood cancer begins

As part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, researchers at St. Anna CCRI share insights into their current research projects. Here, Polina Kameneva explains that childhood cancers often begin in the womb, making them hard to study and detect in time. Her team develops new lab models to replicate early cancer development.

In Simple Terms
– Childhood cancers often begin when the child is still developing in the womb, and are detected too late.
– Studying how these cancers develop is difficult, limiting early detection and treatment.
– Polin Kameneva’s team builds new lab models of cancer development to better understand the first steps of tumor formation and develop new early detection methods.

Contrary to adult cancers which result from years of genetic lesions in cells, childhood cancers arise from single errors during development. In some cases, these errors occur so early in development, that children can be born with cancer. This is particularly relevant in neuroblastoma, where high-risk cases are often diagnosed too late. Polina Kameneva‘s group studies the first stages of neuroblastoma development using lab-built organoid models that recapitulate cancer’s development. Using these models, the team seeks to develop better predictive and diagnostic tests that can tell doctors when a child might develop a tumor, as well as targeted therapies that can better fight high-risk neuroblastomas.