Researchers at the OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital have identified a promising new approach to overcoming drug resistance in children with an extremely aggressive childhood muscle cancer known as alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Their findings are published online this week in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics and will be featured on the cover of the journal’s print edition next month.

Rhabdomyosarcoma accounts for more than 50 percent of all soft-tissue cancers in children. Even after extensive therapy, the survival rate among alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma patients with advanced disease is less than 20 percent. Dismal outcomes such as these are what keep researchers in the Pediatric Cancer Biology Program at OHSU Doernbecher working around the clock toward a breakthrough.

Pictured (From left) Jinu Abraham, PhD, Charles Keller, MD, Suman Malempati, MD
  

The complete OHSU media release is available online.