Avery’s Fight Continues
There is an article out today (10/28) from Scientific American magazine on the importance of tumor and tissue donation in our quest to find a cure to defeat DIPG.
‘Today, however, the outlook for DIPG and other childhood brain cancers looks more promising, thanks to a surge of new research made possible by advances in gene-sequencing methods and tumor tissue donations from families who have lost children, such as Andrew, to these diseases. In recent years researchers around the world have used patients’ tumor tissue to generate dozens of cell lines and mouse models to study the basic biology of pediatric brain cancers. The time is ripe. In the dawn of precision medicine, which aims to customize disease treatment to the individual patient, genetics and basic science findings suggest why past trials may have failed and are guiding future and ongoing efforts to identify effective therapeutics for these devastating diseases.
(Click for complete article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-tackle-lethal-childhood-brain-cancer)
This.
A decision no family should have to make, but the one that will aid a cure.
A very important decision our own family made regarding Avery’s tumor.
Just yesterday (10/27), we received word on the status of Avery’s tumor and tissue donation from Stanford and Dr. Monje.
Avery’s sample has been safely stored and shared among several labs working tirelessly for a DIPG cure.
They are in the process of examining the chromatin landscape of her tumor to better understand which genes are most important to it and keep it primed and ready to express, using a process called chromatin immunoprecipitation and RNA sequencing (ChIP seq).
They are also beginning to use her cells in other therapeutic drug screening efforts and experiments to understand the mechanisms controlling DIPG cell invasion.
This is a critical step in our fight to #DefeatDIPG.
This is what we are all about– a cure.
Fighting alongside fellow parents, supporters and researchers to find the cure for DIPG.
#AveryStrong #DefeatDIPG #EveryDay
-Amanda
