News from the Tow Center for Developmental Oncology

MSK physician-scientist Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD
Article
Read about a discovery that a gene linked to pediatric cancers may play an essential role in normal brain development.
Chrysothemis Brown
Thetis cells, a class of immune cells first described by MSK researchers in 2022, play an essential and previously unknown role in suppressing inflammatory responses to food, a new study finds.
Illustration of brain in green with pons area highlighted in orange.
In the Clinic
A new drug delivery method could improve treatment of a lethal pediatric brain tumor called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
MSK physician-scientist Alex Kentsis
Learn about a possible new treatment approach for soft tissue sarcomas.
Daniel Heller
Learn how MSK researchers are investigating the use of nanoparticles to carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier.
MSK scientists Andrew Kung and Elli Papaemmanuil
By sequencing the entire genome of a tumor, the experimental test will go beyond standard testing for common cancers in adults.
Genetic counselor Elise Fiala and pediatric cancer expert Michael Walsh
Finding
The largest study of its kind to look at data from children with cancer finds inherited cancer genes are more common than expected.
Pediatric oncologist Nai-Kong Cheung
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the drug naxitamab (Danyelza) for the treatment of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. The drug, also known as humanized 3F8, was developed by researchers at MSK Kids, the pediatric cancer program at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Finding
New research focuses on clonal hematopoiesis, an age-related blood condition that increases the risk of blood cancer.
Cancer biologist and pediatric oncologist Alex Kentsis
In the Lab
A protein detected in the urine of children with Wilms’ tumor led to the development of a test to improve diagnosis and treatment.
Mutlinucleated muscle cells from flies
In the Lab
A new study in flies reveals a previously unknown type of cooperation at work in muscle cells.
In this fluorescent microscopy image of endoderm tissue from a mouse embryo, cell membranes are red, cell nuclei are blue, and extra-embryonic endoderm cells are green (they appear turquoise because blue and green are merged).
In the Lab
A large study that analyzed nearly 120,000 cells in a developing mouse embryo is full of surprises.
Pediatric oncologists Andrew Kung, Neal Shukla, and Fil Dela Cruz
Feature
Learn how the Pediatric Translational Medicine Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering is bringing together experts to make new discoveries about pediatric cancer.
Alex Kentsis in his lab
Finding
Researchers have found that the genetic changes that cause pediatric leukemia are different from those that lead to leukemia in adults.
MSK physician-scientist Omar Abdel-Wahab
In the Lab
New drugs are being developed that target part of the process to make proteins.
Cancer biologist and pediatric oncologist Alex Kentsis
Science Byte
A new strategy for treating pediatric cancers involves preventing cells from repairing their own DNA.
Developmental biologist Anna-Katerina (Kat) Hadjantonakis
Science Byte
MSK researchers shed light on the signals that determine the fate of embryonic cells.
Cancer biologist and pediatric oncologist Alex Kentsis
In the Lab
Researchers have discovered a genetic mechanism that may trigger most childhood cancers.