Some of the most important instructions inside a cancer cell may come from genetic material that doesn’t make proteins at all.
At the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, the Pertsemlidis Lab, led by Alexander Pertsemlidis, PhD, combines computational biology, cancer biology and genetics to study molecules called non-coding RNAs—including microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs.
Despite their name, these molecules are far from unimportant.
Non-coding RNAs help regulate how cells behave, including whether they grow, survive and respond to treatment. The Pertsemlidis Lab is investigating how changes in these molecules influence cancer—and whether researchers can use them to identify new therapeutic targets, predict treatment response or even develop new therapies.
One of the lab’s major childhood cancer focuses is neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in infants and the most common solid tumor outside the brain in children. Neuroblastoma can behave very differently from one child to another: some tumors regress with relatively little treatment, while high-risk or relapsed disease can be extremely difficult to treat.
That dramatic difference raises a powerful research question:
What can the biology of tumors that naturally regress teach us about defeating the aggressive ones?
The Pertsemlidis Lab studies the molecular differences between low- and high-risk neuroblastoma, including whether particular non-coding RNAs can be manipulated to kill tumor cells or make them more responsive to anticancer drugs. Researchers are also investigating therapeutic microRNAs in combination with conventional chemotherapy.
The lab’s broader goals include developing sensitive, non-invasive approaches to detect cancer earlier and identify drugs tailored to specific pediatric and adult cancer subtypes.
Cancer doesn’t always need a new genetic mutation to change its behavior. Sometimes the difference lies in how existing genetic instructions are controlled.
By decoding that hidden layer of regulation, the Pertsemlidis Lab is searching for new ways to identify—and exploit—the vulnerabilities of childhood cancer.
🔬 Learn more about the Pertsemlidis Lab
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