Grant: CIHR - ICR / Cancer Res. Society Partnership-Res. Gr. -Non-melanoma skin cancers

Neurofibromatosis type I is an incurable genetic disease. Patients develop disfiguring tumors that are often difficult to remove by surgery and may be fatal. This disease is caused by a genetic mutation in the gene producing neurofibromin, rendering it non-functional. The idea here is to test the hypothesis that re-expressing functional neurofibromin in these tumors would lead to tumor regression or better tissue normalization. To do so, we will engineer a novel mouse model with inducible expression of neurofibromin. We will also develop a general drug-like strategy aiming at restoring functional neurofibromin.