What Drugs Will Target Cancer Stem Cells?

Project Title: Drug Development Program for Neuroblastoma Stem Cells
Researcher: David Kaplan, PhD
Institution: The Hospital for Sick Children
Study Type: Preclinical
Status: Completed

A major challenge in neuroblastoma is the lack of effective treatments for metastatic disease. Children with relapsed neuroblastoma urgently need more treatment options. Solving Kids’ Cancer created this program to identify new promising agents for these kids. Researchers were able to successfully isolate populations of neuroblastoma cells with the properties of cancer stem cells. These cells (called tumor-initiating cells or TICs) can grow tumors in mice by injecting as few as 10 cells, whereas other cell lines typically require injecting tens of thousands of cancer cells to cause a tumor to grow in mice. The goal of this project is to identify good targets and drug candidates to best kill these cells. Several new drugs are currently under evaluation for potential use against neuroblastoma TICs in future clinical trials.