Louis Chesler - Profile
Dr Louis Chesler is working to develop new drugs for children suffering cancers that respond poorly to existing treatment, including the rare solid tumour neuroblastoma, muscle cancer rhabdomyosarcoma and the common brain tumour medulloblastoma. He leads the Neuroblastoma Drug Development Team within the ICR’s Section of Paediatric Oncology.
South African-born Dr Chesler completed his early scientific and medical training in the United States, taking his Bachelor of Science (Honours) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his MD and PhD at Northwestern University in Chicago. During this time he also worked for the US government’s National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute as an Intramural Fellow. In 1995, he joined the University of California, San Francisco, working as a paediatric oncology consultant and running a neuroblastoma research programme, before moving to the ICR in 2007 as a Senior Clinical Lecturer.
Dr Chesler was attracted to paediatric cancer research because it allows him to make a long-lasting contribution to children’s lives. “We have patients who go on to graduate high school, attend university and get married - seeing them have their own children is amazing, the most rewarding of all,” he says.
But relapses are common with paediatric cancers, Dr Chesler says, and the high-dose therapies required for treatment in this situation can have serious side-effects including long term disability, organ dysfunction and even a second cancer. Dr Chesler and his team are developing drugs specifically targeted at children’s cancers, as most drugs currently given to children were originally designed for adults. “The ICR is known for its excellent work in the development of novel targeted chemotherapies, which is an area that has great potential,” Dr Chesler says.
Part of Dr Chesler’s work includes investigating the MYCN gene, which is necessary for normal growth and nervous system development but can cause aggressive childhood cancers if it malfunctions. He is developing new drugs that target this gene, which he hopes will have fewer side-effects than existing treatments. Dr Chesler hopes a drug developed in his own lab will one day lead to substantially improved survival rates in clinical trials. “Our current work should be on the right track to achieving that,” he says.
“Ideally I would like to help achieve for children what has been achieved for adults with chronic myeloid leukaemia. The drug Gleevec is a one-a-day pill that comes without the side-effects associated with previous treatments – we need a Gleevec for children,” he says.
Dr Chesler believes the ICR’s close links with industry and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has created a new model of efficiency for drug development. “This partnership is unique and allows me to devote most of my time to laboratory research while retaining significant clinical involvement on the paediatric oncology ward,” he says.
Dr Chesler is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Association of Pediatrics and on the editorial board for several peer-reviewed journals. Away from work, Dr Chesler enjoys visiting historic buildings and cultural sites in the UK, and cycling.
