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Based on progress to date, Dr. Deel was awarded a new grant in 2018 to fund an additional year of this Fellow award. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a childhood cancer of the muscle that has two major subtypes. Children with the alveolar type do very poorly, as these are frequently recurrent and metastatic. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cells have a specific fusion protein that is a powerful cancer driver and that does not yet have a pharmaceutical treatment. Dr. Deel and his team recently found that the Hippo pathway, normally functions to suppress tumor growth, is not correctly regulated in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, which leads to TAZ (a co-activator) activating pro-tumoric gene transcription.

As the Aiden's Army St. Baldrick's Fellow, Dr. Deel is studying the interaction between the protein and the co-activator TAZ as a novel therapeutic target. Aiden Binkley was diagnosed with Stage IV rhabdomyosarcoma at age 8. This bright, funny and courageous little boy believed he got cancer so he could grow up to find a cure for it. His vision is being carried on by Aiden’s Army through the funding of research. They will march until there is a cure!