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CALGARY - Researchers in Calgary are using cells from a rare form of childhood cancer to develop a new research techniques in hopes of sparking improvements in how the disease is studied.

A team of researchers in Calgary recently published an article in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology presenting a new way to grow an atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumour - a rare and aggressive brain cancer found in infants and small children - in a Petri dish.

Dr. Aru Narendran, the study's lead author, stressed that it's a very preliminary discovery that has more of an impact on how a disease is researched than it does on actual patient treatment.

"It's a shift in idea," Narendran said Wednesday. "It's a new way of doing things."

The research team deviated from traditional methods of growing specimens for cancer research.

Narendran said labs such as his often grow tumours in animals and harvest them later to be studied, or try, often unsuccessfully, to grow them in a culture rich with nutrients.

In this case, he and his colleagues added brain fluid to the cancer cells in a Petri dish, simulating their natural growing environment.

Researchers now have an endless supply of cell lines for this type of cancer, which Narendran and his colleagues are distributing to others around the world to study.

By looking at the cells of atypical teratoid/rhabdoid cancer, Narendran said his team may have pinpointed what makes them grow.

With this information, the research team tested a new drug called AEW-541, specifically designed to inhibit the growth of this type of cell. He said that although the research is very preliminary, the drug seemed to have accomplished that.

The form of cancer Narendran and his colleagues used in this study is very rare - about only two cases occur per year in Alberta - but it's deadly.

Those diagnosed under the age of three have less than a 10 per cent survival rate. Young children with this form of cancer treated for radiation may experience permanent problems with thinking, learning, and growing.

It is generally only found in newborns and toddlers, so is a form of cancer that researchers have experienced difficulty creating for laboratory research.

Errand said that although he hopes the new research method can be applied to other forms of cancer, it's too early to tell what lasting effects his findings will have.

The research was funded by Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta and the Brain Tumour Research Foundation of Canada.