Grants Search Results

Based on progress to date, Dr. Lubega was awarded new grants in 2016 and 2017 to fund additional years of this International Scholar award. A third of cancers in children in Africa are due to Burkitt's lymphoma. Burkitt's lymphoma seems to arise from the body's attempt to fight Epstein-Barr virus and malaria infections. This study measures infection-fighting proteins in children with and without Burkitt's lymphoma. The goal is to discover if these infection-fighting proteins in blood or saliva can be used as specific indicators of Burkitt's lymphoma. These proteins can be developed into clinical tests for early detection and monitoring treatment for children with cancer.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Fuentes Alabi was awarded new grants in 2016 and 2017 to fund additional years of this International Scholar award. The majority of children with cancer live in countries with limited resources and yet we know very little about the types of pediatric cancer and their distribution in those settings. Studies suggest that the incidence of some types of childhood cancer is not the same among different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Epidemiology studies focused on those unique areas of the world are very important because they can help improve our overall understanding of childhood cancers. This project aims to build epidemiology research capacity in Central America through the training of Dr. Fuentes Alabi. Awarded at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and transferred to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The project involves creating a web application that will generate computerized tailored resilience profiles for adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYA) and their parents. The tailored resilience profiles will summarize meaningful of information regarding the AYAs' and parents' strengths and areas that could be improved. The overall goal is to give them information to help them achieve a sense of resilience during cancer treatment. Resilience means a person feels a sense of confidence and well-being in the midst of a life-threatening illness. Fostering resilience during the cancer experience leads to improve quality of life.

Nutrition experts recommend that pediatric cancer survivors eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products, and to lead active lifestyles. However, studies suggest that childhood cancer survivors are at risk for excessive weight gain and poor fitness. Strategies to enhance the nutritional quality of diets and to promote physical activity among cancer survivors are greatly needed. This study assesses the feasibility of healthy lifestyle coaching by group televideo conferencing to encourage healthy lifestyle modifications.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma of childhood and some subtypes are highly aggressive and spread to different organs. Current treatment strategies include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, and clinical trials combining these modalities still result in only 30% survival. Advances in cancer genome studies have identified several genetic changes that are crucial for aggressive tumor growth and spread of the disease. Some of these genetic changes result in display of specific proteins on the tumor cell surface. Development and preclinical evaluation of monoclonal antibodies against such tumor-specific molecules would open the door for a variety of targeted therapeutics and novel treatment options for these patients.      

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive cancer that requires treatment with highly intensive chemotherapy. The prognosis of patients with relapsed and refractory (treatment resistant) T-ALL is very poor. Dr. Ferrando and his team have identified that specific mutations in the NT5C2 gene lead to chemotherapy resistance in 20% of relapse T-ALL cases. The goal of this research is to generate a model of chemotherapy resistance driven by mutant NT5C2 genes and utilize this model to develop new tailored therapies for the treatment of relapsed T-ALL.      

Hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), in which the leukemic cells have lost multiple chromosomes, is associated with poor outcome. Dr. Mullighan and his team identified multiple new gene mutations that have not previously been recognized in this disease. Dr. Mullighan is investigating the impact of the identified mutations on leukemia formation, and investigating therapeutic alternatives for this high-risk leukemia. PI was initially Dr. Linda Holmfeldt.

Human synovial sarcoma is uniformly driven by a precise genetic lesion (change to our heritable material, or DNA), which converts a normal protein into one that functions abnormally and promotes cancer development. This research aims to identify molecules which prevent this conversion and halt synovial sarcoma growth.

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive childhood cancer that often arises in muscle. It contains a DNA error which drives cells to divide when they shouldn't, resulting in cancer. Dr. Linardic has discovered one targetable protein that is controlled by this DNA error. Her work aims to understand how this protein and the DNA error associated with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma are related, and whether the protein she discovered will be a useful drug target.

Although radiation is a known carcinogen whose effects are most pronounced in children, it is ubiquitous in modern life. By studying survivors of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma, Dr. Onel's team discovered that genetic variants regulating one gene are both very common and strongly associated with increased risk for radiation-induced cancers. Dr. Onel and his team are working to determine how radiation activates this gene, how the gene directs the response to radiation, and how variants alter this response. Dr. Onel hopes that these results will lead to new ways to identify children at risk for radiation-induced cancers, or new drugs to prevent this devastating late effect of radiation exposure.

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor. There is an urgent need to develop novel therapies for children with medulloblastoma. Dr. Van Meir and his team are studying the importance of the loss of tumor suppressor BAI1 in medulloblastoma. Such new knowledge has the potential to reveal new ways to treat this disease.

Many currently used chemotherapeutic drugs have severe toxic side effects and a significant number of cancer patients do not respond well to chemotherapy. Thus, developing more effective and less harmful new anticancer drugs remains significant and challenging. Dr. Zhou's team has discovered several small molecule chemical compounds that are stronger to kill cancer cells, and less toxic to normal cells than currently used chemotherapeutic drugs. Dr. Zhou is studying the mechanism by which these compounds kill cancer but not normal human cells, and how to develop these compounds as effective and safe therapeutic drugs for treating refractory cancer patients.

Neuroblastoma is a common childhood cancer. Cancers happen because of mutations (mistakes) in the genetic code within them, and knowing which specific mutation happened in each particular cancer should help doctors improve their treatments. Dr. Hogarty's team discovered that some neuroblastomas have mutations in a specific gene, ARID1, and that these tumors are especially difficult to cure. Dr. Hogarty is studying this gene more since it determines how nerve cells behave, and neuroblastoma arises from mutated nerve cells. This may give us insight into new ways to treat neuroblastoma.

Recurrence of childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is all too frequent after initially successful treatment. The underlying drug resistance is partly related to the protective role of the bone marrow microenvironment, where leukemia cells grow. Dr. Kurre's team has recently discovered that AML cells release small amounts of material in the bone marrow microenvironment that cause changes to promote leukemia progression. Dr. Kurre is working to better understand these changes and how these changes can reprogram the leukemia bone marrow to protect residual AML cells and lead to relapse.

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric tumor that is very difficult to treat, even with surgery and chemotherapy, because certain genes in these cancer cells are over-expressed. Dr. Malkas and her team have identified a protein that is uniquely expressed by these cancer cells, and discovered that a small portion of this protein can be used as a decoy to bind-up other proteins to selectively kill cancer cells. She is working to determine how this protein kills tumor cells, and how to make the cells more sensitive to chemotherapy.

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. These tumors are caused by or associated with two proteins which cannot be directly attacked with drugs. However, these proteins rely on other proteins involved in the translation (the process of making more proteins) to cause cancer. Currently researchers can alter translation with drugs in clinical trials for adult cancers. Dr. Weiss's team is trying to determine how these two proteins rely on these translational proteins in medulloblastoma, and how to modulate them with currently available drugs, to halt tumor growth and destroy tumor cells.

Rhabdoid tumors are highly aggressive cancers that strike young children, for which a cure still remains elusive. In nearly all cases of rhabdoid tumors a specific tumor gene (SNF5) is mutated. But how this mutation drives rhabdoid tumor formation remains largely unknown. Dr. Wang's research investigates how this mutation eventually predisposes to cancer formation, with the ultimate goal of translating these findings to find potential therapies for this aggressive pediatric cancer. This research is funded by P.A.L.S. Bermuda with funds raised through the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

NUT midline carcinoma is a deadly cancer of children and adolescents. This cancer is caused by a cancer gene called BRD4-NUT, but it cannot work without the help of other cancer genes. BRD4-NUT itself cannot be targeted very effectively with known cancer drugs. Dr. French is working to identify the cancer genes that are helping BRD4-NUT so that we can effectively treat NUT midline carcinoma with drugs that interfere with these cancer genes.    

Despite the toxic effects of current treatment for children and young adults with AML, overall survival remains poor because of recurrent leukemia. If their AML does not respond to chemotherapy after relapse, chances for survival are low. This team has identified important changes in AML that can be exploited to develop more effective and less toxic treatments using new types of drugs. The consortium focuses on showing that these pathways are needed for leukemia survival, and developing pathway-directed clinical trials to improve outcomes for this group of patients with no other treatment options. Awarded to Phoenix Children's Hospital and transferred to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Funds administered by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Pathway Directed Treatment for Refractory AML Consortium. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA.