In Vitro Methods for Evaluating Anti-Cancer Drugs

Cancer is a major health concern for the world, with children's cancers being particularly devastating. Children's brain cancers are treatable, but those treatments often leave behind developmental impairments and so it is vital to seek out novel cancer treatment options. Examining old drugs for cancer treatment saves considerable cost and time in drug development, and so it is an important option to explore. The focus of this practicum was learning in vitro methods of evaluating potential anti-cancer drugs, using cell viability, Western Blotting, and apoptosis analyses. These methods are useful for quickly measuring changes in cancer cell death, exploring reasons for those changes via protein analysis, and can lead to further investigations. This thesis discusses current problems with medulloblastoma treatment and investigates the potential use of metformin in medulloblastoma treatment. The results of this practicum conclude that metformin is likely to be an inhibitor of medulloblastoma viability and should be further investigated.