{"id":1431,"date":"2024-01-15T18:11:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/navyblue.bcmultistaging.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2026-01-12T03:29:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:29:34","slug":"could-chicken-eggs-help-revolutionize-cancer-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/2024\/01\/15\/could-chicken-eggs-help-revolutionize-cancer-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Could chicken eggs help revolutionize cancer treatment for children?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike adult cancers, which are often linked to lifestyle and environmental risk factors, the cause of many childhood cancers remains unknown.<\/p>\n\n

While advances in research and care have greatly improved chances of survival, cancer remains the second-leading cause of non-accidental death among children in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cChildhood cancers are unique in that they not only grow differently than adult cancers, but they respond to treatments differently too,\u201d says Dr. James Lim, an investigator at the Michael Cuccione Childhood Cancer Research Program at BC Children\u2019s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine.

Right now, fewer cancer drugs are considered safe for children, so when a conventional treatment, like chemotherapy fails, or if the cancer returns, the road ahead for children and their families can seem daunting.

But what if it was possible to bring new hope by pinpointing which cancer treatments have the best chance of success before they are even administered to a child?<\/p>\n<\/div>

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In the first laboratory of its kind in Canada, Dr. Lim and his colleagues are tackling that very question \u2014 using a surprising, but powerful research tool.<\/p>\n\n

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“We\u2019re then able to test different drugs targeted to the unique properties and weaknesses of each tumour, and see how the cancer cells will respond.\u201d<\/p>\t<\/blockquote>\n\t

\n\t\t– Dr. James Lim\t<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIn my research lab, we\u2019re using chicken eggs as a host model to grow the child\u2019s tumour in a petri dish,\u201d says Dr. Lim, an expert on drug resistance in pediatric cancers. We\u2019re then able to test different drugs targeted to the unique properties and weaknesses of each tumour, and see how the cancer cells will respond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

By pre-testing treatment options in the safety of a laboratory setting, Dr. Lim and his team are helping pinpoint what drugs work well, understand why some drugs fail, and ultimately offer treatment options with the highest chance of success for children battling hard-to-treat or recurring cancers.<\/p>\n\n

While the chicken egg model (technically known as the chorioallantoic membrane or CAM) is not new to pre-clinical cancer research, Dr. Lim and his colleagues are the first scientists in Canada to use the model in the field of pediatric cancer research.<\/p>\n\n

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Dr. Lim and his team are the first scientists in Canada to use the chicken egg model in the field of pediatric cancer research.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe primary advantage of using the chicken egg is that it\u2019s a rapid model,\u201d says Dr. Lim. \u201cIt takes just one to two weeks to grow a tumour from the time of the initial biopsy \u2014 this represents a dramatic drop from the current standard of three to six months using other models.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Dr. Lim\u2019s game-changing work is part of a much bigger pediatric precision oncology initiative, known as the Better Responses through Avatars and Evidence (or BRAvE)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Comprised of a passionate team of researchers based at BCCHR, the BRAvE team is using cutting-edge mass spectrometry and genome sequencing technologies to determine the unique molecular makeup of childhood cancer tumours \u2013 all in an effort to find treatment options with the highest chance of success and the fewest side effects.<\/p>\n\n

The team\u2019s findings are then shared with the child\u2019s health-care team \u2014 helping to guide next steps, inform treatment plans, and ultimately bring new hope to children who are faced with a cancer diagnosis and their families.<\/p>\n\n

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Dr. James Lim removes chicken eggs from an incubator for further inspection.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

According to Dr. Lim, one of the biggest challenges in treating pediatric cancer currently is that far fewer cancer drugs are approved for children.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cOftentimes, different tissues are affected in childhood cancer and fewer cancer drugs are considered safe for children,\u201d says Dr. Lim.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Which is why Dr. Lim and his colleagues at BRAvE, including PhD candidate Tariq Bhat, are exploring new avenues, even investigating and testing already-approved drugs used to treat other childhood diseases and conditions altogether.

\u201cWe\u2019re exploring all possibilities,\u201d says Dr. Lim. \u201cThe best-case scenario is when we find an existing drug that has already been approved for use in children and can be repurposed in the fight against cancer.\u201d

While it\u2019s early days, Dr. Lim is hopeful that his work and that of the broader BRAvE initiative will help to fuel a revolution in pediatric cancer research and care \u2013 not only here in B.C., but across Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cUntil recently, treating pediatric cancer has basically been a one-size-fits-all approach,\u201d says Dr. Lim. \u201cWe now have an opportunity before us to embrace these exciting advances in precision medicine research to help inform treatment and save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Credit:\u00a0UBC Faculty of Medicine<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike adult cancers, which are often linked to lifestyle and environmental risk factors, the cause of many childhood cancers remains unknown. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","fndry_alternate_title":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":"Andrea Sakamoto","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2471,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/2471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/brave-initiative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}