While survival rates in paediatric cancers have increased significantly the past decades, for certain
entities there is still a high rate of treatment failure such as for children with high risk
neuroblastomas and relapsed T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL). Furthermore, treatment
for high risk paediatric cancers is harsh and associated with severe long term side effects including
secondary cancer at later age. Therefore, the search for more effective and less toxic therapeutic
options remains one of the most challenging tasks in cancer research. Our lab has made a new
recent discovery concerning the PHF6 gene that we previously identified in T-ALL. For the first time,
we have strong evidence for a role in the control of genes normally implicated in the regulation of
cell identity, genes which are often perturbed in cancer cells. We will first study this new mechanism
in further detail using the newest techniques and in vivo modelling in zebrafish. Next, we also have
preliminary data suggesting that a combination of two novel drugs allows to target PHF6 as part of a
broader regulatory network controlled by the FOXM1 transcription factor. As such, we will further
expand these promising preliminary drugging data in a large panel of neuroblastoma and T-ALL cell
lines and animal models for pre-clinical testing prior to moving to patient clinical trials.