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LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE) – Chemotherapy and radiation target cancer cells, but these treatments produce unwanted side effects on healthy tissue. The intestines are particularly sensitive to this toxicity. A better understanding of how intestinal tissue repairs in response to injury could help medicine to develop ways to minimize these effects as well as other non-targeted effects. Investigator Mark Frey, Ph.D., of the Los Angeles Children's Hospital, received a $ 1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the mechanisms of repair and regeneration of the tract intestinal.
Tumor cells divide and multiply faster than normal cells. Most cancer treatments target this process of rapid growth. The idea is to kill cancer while causing minimal damage to healthy tissue. But some cells – like those lining the intestines – divide so quickly. "It's the fastest growing tissue in the adult human body, "says Dr. Frey. "It is a mechanism that allows the intestines to replace damaged cells after normal injury or wear. But this also makes the GI tract more vulnerable than other types of tissues to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Dr. Frey is leading a laboratory at the Saban Research Institute of the Los Angeles Children's Hospital, where he is studying how epithelium – the layer of cells lining the intestines – regenerates itself to repair itself after an injury.
The new funding will help Dr. Frey discover the mechanisms of epithelial growth. His work will focus on two essential proteins in this process – ErbB3 and ErbB4. These proteins are found on the surface of many types of cells, including the cells of the intestines. Dr. Frey's research has shown that they are essential for the survival and differentiation of intestinal stem cells. His future research will uncover the precise mechanisms by which these receptors regulate the balance of stem cells in the epithelium.
"If we understand the functioning of the process of regeneration and repair in the intestine, he says,we can design repair methods during chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments to reduce toxicity and improve quality of life. "
The grant was awarded by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the NIH (grant number: 2R01DK095004-06A1).
About the Los Angeles Children's Hospital
Founded in 1901, the Los Angeles Children's Hospital is ranked California's Best Children's Hospital and fifth in the country for clinical excellence with its selection on US News & World's prestigious Children's Hospital Honor Roll. Report. Clinical care is provided by faculty members of the USC Keck School of Medicine through an affiliation dating back to 1932. The hospital also runs the largest pediatric residency training program in a self-contained children's hospital of this type in the western United States. The Saban Research Institute at the Los Angeles Children's Hospital includes basic, translational and clinical research at CHLA. To learn more, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitterand visit our blog for families (CHLA.org/blog) and our search blog (ResearCHLABlog.org).
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