“ROR2, a potential novel therapeutic target in desmoid tumors.” Year 1 of 2

This is a new grant for a three-year project studying Receptor tyrosine (RTK’s) which are proteins that are expressed on the surface of cells and are known to play an important role in cellular differentiation and tumor growth. ROR2 is a RTK which is expressed at high levels in a significant subset of desmoid tumors. It is a receptor for the Wnt family of proteins, proteins that are known to play a role in a pathway in the development of desmoid tumors. They will generate a novel monoclonal antibody against the extracellular part of ROR2 and study its effect on desmoid tumor cell growth in vitro.