Fundación Inocente supports research into childhood rhabdoid tumours

Fundación Inocente has selected a project led by Dr. Alexandra Avgustinova, head of the Paediatric Cancer Epigenetics laboratory at IRB Barcelona and the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, in its call for childhood cancer research. The team will receive €90,000 to investigate why malignant rhabdoid tumours can resist treatment and explore possible ways to overcome this resistance.

Malignant rhabdoid tumours are rare and aggressive childhood cancers. Although they have relatively few genetic alterations, their cells can behave in very different ways. Previous research by the team has produced a detailed atlas of these tumours, revealing this cellular diversity. The new project will investigate how the ability of cells to change state, known as cellular plasticity, allows them survive under stress.

Tracking how cells respond to treatment

To test this hypothesis, the team will use tumour models derived from patients. Exposing these to conditions that reproduce different biologically relevant stress conditions will allow the researchers to study which cells survive and how they change.

The researchers will combine these results with the tumour atlas they have already generated to identify processes that may promote resistance. They will then functionally validate the most promising candidates in experimental models using gene editing tools or pharmacological compounds. The aim is to identify vulnerabilities in these tumours that could inform future therapeutic strategies to achieve durable treatment responses.

Fundación Inocente will allocate more than €800,000 to the nine projects selected in this funding call. The proposals were evaluated by the Spanish State Research Agency.