Research we have funded
Epigenetic landscapes during the evolution of hard-to-treat hepatoblastoma to resolve novel treatment opportunities
Lead investigator: Dr Alejandra Bruna, Institute of Cancer Research in London
Award: £100,000
Date of award: June 2025
Lay summary:
Childhood liver cancers, including hepatoblastoma (HB) and paediatric hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), are rare but life-threatening diseases that affect children under the age of five. While treatments like chemotherapy and surgery can cure many patients, some children experience resistance to treatment or cancer relapse, making it much harder to achieve long-term survival. Current research suggests that cancer cells can “adapt” during treatment by changing their behaviour without needing new mutations. This ability, known as plasticity, allows cancer cells to survive and grow despite treatment, but its exact role in childhood liver cancers is not well understood.
This project aims to uncover how HB and HCC cancers evolve during treatment to develop resistance. We will use advanced technologies to study individual cancer cells within a population at an extremely detailed level.
These methods will allow us to track how individual cancer cells respond to chemotherapy, identify changes in gene activity and cell behaviours and pinpoint specific mechanisms that drive cancer adaptation.
Our study has three main goals:
1. Understand how cancer cells change during treatment: We will track how cells switch between different states or behaviours, which may help them become resistant to drugs.
2. Find the “control switches” for these changes: By looking at non-genetic factors (called epigenetic changes) that regulate cell behaviour, we aim to uncover what drives these transitions.
3. Discover new treatment strategies: We will identify pathways or mechanisms that can be targeted with new drugs to stop these adaptations and prevent the cancer from returning.
This research could lead to the discovery of biomarkers, which can help predict which children are at higher risk of their cancer returning. By better understanding the biology behind these rare cancers, this project will pave the way for more tailored, effective treatments, offering new hope for children and families affected by these devastating diseases.
