Research efforts you are supporting
2009-2010

Dr. Brenda Petrella, a Research Biologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in White Junction, Vermont, is receiving funding this year for her project to evaluate the effectiveness of a new approach to treating kidney cancer.  If it works, it would not only benefit people with VHL, it would also benefit all people who get “sporadic” kidney cancer – acquired at random in the general population.  Most sporadic kidney cancer tumors have an alteration in the VHL gene that occurred during their lifetime and caused the tumor.  It is the lack of sufficient VHL protein in a cell that causes a kidney tumor to start.

Her team has identified a new therapeutic target, MT1-MMP.  When VHL function is lost, levels of MT1-MMP are significantly increased in kidney cancer cells.   MT1-MMP regulates several cellular processes, including those leading to the development of tumors.  There is evidence that kidney cancer cells use MT1-MMP to enable them to gain the capability to metastasize, or seed themselves in other parts of the body. 

Their hypothesis is that inhibition of MT1-MMP may therefore have anti-tumor effects in kidney tumors and may represent a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of kidney cancer, which is highly resistant to most chemotherapy.  In this study, they are working to determine whether inhibition of MT1-MMP has anti-tumor effects and whether inhibition of MT1-MMP increases the efficacy of sorafenib (Nexavar), a currently FDA-approved first-line therapy for advanced kidney cancer that has spread to other organs.

The results from this study will contribute to our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms driving the development and spread of kidney tumors. We are hoping that this research will help us to find effective non-surgical treatments for kidney cancer tumors for people with VHL and for others in the general population who have VHL alterations in their kidney cancer tumors. 

Tissue Banking

Research requirements for tissue banking are changing.  Much research these days requires that samples have their RNA intact.  RNA degrades rapidly as soon as tissue is removed from the body.  Ideally, tissues need to be flash frozen in or near the operating room.  We are working to understand the requirements of the researchers, and with our Tissue Banking partner, NDRI, to understand the best methods for acquiring, transporting, and storing tissues that will meet the researchers’ needs.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 18:4, November 2010. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.