EIF6 as a molecular determinant of drug response in atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor
Mentor Name: John Prensner
Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a devastating childhood cancer that frequently impacts the most vulnerable patients: infants. Most children are younger than 2 years old when they are diagnosed with ATRT, and subsequently they endure an intense series of treatments--including surgery, chemotherapy, potentially radiation, and often a bone marrow transplant. Despite this, survival rates for infants with ATRT remain poor, with at least 50% of children succumbing to the disease. Our lab has recently analyzed the activity of novel drugs targeting the process of protein synthesis in ATRT. We have found that targeting protein synthesis is a potential therapeutic approach to eradicate cancer cells. We have analyzed the biology of ATRT and other cancers to nominate the ribosome-associated factor EIF6 as a potential determinant of ATRT cell response to small molecule inhibitors targeting the ribosome. This project seeks to validate, optimize, and probe the role of EIF6 in governing how ATRT cells respond to drugs targeting the ribosome and determine whether EIF6 activity has a specific molecular effect on the efficiency of RNA translation in ATRT.
