Linda Holmfeldt, Ph.D., received a $100,000 St. Baldrick’s Research Grant to support her project focused on hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Patients with this subtype of leukemia, in which the leukemic cells have lost multiple chromosomes, have a much lower chance of survival. Dr. Holmfeldt and her team have identified multiple gene mutations that are believed to be responsible for allowing the cancer to grow.
“Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common type of childhood malignancy, and even though the outcome today is relatively good, ALL is still the most common malignancy-related cause of death in young people,” Dr. Holmfeldt said. “We are in great need of finding new therapeutic alternatives for children diagnosed with hypodiploid ALL, and my proposed studies have a high likelihood of identifying new drugs that can help save more children.”
Mari Dallas, M.D., was also granted a $115,000 extended St. Baldrick’s Scholar award to fund an additional year of her research project focused on umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplants.
Blood stem cell transplants are a potential cure for various types of childhood cancer, but nearly one-third of patients who require a transplant do not have a suitable matched donor. It is much easier to find a donor match for a UCB transplant, which uses cord blood instead of bone marrow or peripheral blood, but the recovery time is lengthy, and patients run the risk of serious infection during that time when their immune systems are rebuilding themselves.
Dr. Dallas’s team has developed a novel method to generate cells that will speed the time to recovery. They now have a goal to translate these findings to the clinic to improve the survival of children with cancer.
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