Research Outcomes: Unveiling Hope
Our St. Baldrick’s Foundation Research Outcomes blogs highlight examples of the progress your donations are supporting. This quarterly edition focuses on understanding how rhabdomyosarcoma grows, using immunotherapy to treat pediatric brain tumors and relapsed neuroblastoma, as well as research to understand the experiences of adolescents and young adults being treated for advanced pediatric cancer.
Thank you for making research – and hope — possible.
What Is Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma?
What is alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma?
There are two main types of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma: embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.
- Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) occurs most often in children under 10 years old and is found in the head, neck, urinary tract, or reproductive organs. It is the most common type.
- Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) is more aggressive, occurs more commonly in teens or young adults, and usually starts in the torso, arms, or legs.
Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue cancer in children, with approximately 350 new cases each year in the United States.
What Is Ewing Sarcoma?
Jason Yustein, M.D., Ph.D., a St. Baldrick’s Foundation Board Member and Scientific Program Committee Member, at Emory University School of Medicine, Georgia, explains Ewing sarcoma symptoms, treatment options, and research opportunities.
What is Ewing sarcoma?
Ewing sarcoma is a type of childhood cancer that is most frequently found in children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 20 years old.
Ewing sarcoma — the second most common bone cancer after osteosarcoma — often originates in the long, large bones of the body, including the hip, thigh, shin, chest, and arm bones.
What Is Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma?
What is embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma?
Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is a malignant soft tissue tumor that is formed from embryonic skeletal muscle tissue, the type of tissue that grows into skeletal muscles.
When we think about skeletal muscles, we might first think of biceps or hamstrings, but embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma doesn’t usually start in the arms or legs. Most often, these tumors are seen in the head or neck, bladder, or reproductive organs.
Celebrating a Partnership for Progress in Osteosarcoma
For more than 40 years the main treatment for pediatric osteosarcoma has not changed. Patients with this type of aggressive bone cancer, most often diagnosed in teens, are in desperate need of new options. Fewer than 30% of patients survive when osteosarcoma has spread beyond the primary tumor at diagnosis.
To make a significant impact for kids fighting osteosarcoma, five funding partners have banded together with St. Baldrick’s to support a new grant – The Fight Osteosarcoma Together (FOT) Super Grant. Today we are excited to announce that the recipient of this three-year, $1.5 million grant is Dr. Patrick Grohar, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The goal: a clinical trial to test a new treatment within three years.
Patrick J. Grohar, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Outcomes: Overcoming Challenges
Our St. Baldrick’s Foundation Research Outcomes blogs highlight examples of the progress your donations are supporting. This quarterly edition focuses on a new treatment target for neuroblastoma, improving CAR T-Cell effectiveness, using ultrasound to reach brain tumors, and preventing heart failure in childhood cancer survivors.
Thank you for making this research possible.
Innovative Therapies for Pediatric Gliomas: Preclinical Breakthroughs and Clinical Trial Advances
Dr. Eric Raabe
Join us as we follow the journey of Dr. Eric Raabe’s research, funded by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation Hero Fund, Hannah’s Heroes. From uncovering the activation of the mTOR pathway in pediatric low-grade gliomas, he went on to conduct successful preclinical studies showcasing the effectiveness of mTOR inhibitors in combination therapy. Now, his research is underpinning a clinical trial to assess the use of Everolimus in pediatric patients facing recurrent or worsening low-grade gliomas.
A Quest for the BEST Ewing Sarcoma Therapy
A generous $1 million donation from an anonymous donor in 2019 allowed St. Baldrick’s to put out a call for fresh ideas to tackle Ewing sarcoma, emphasizing the urgency of improving patient outcomes. This gift established the Martha’s Better Ewing Sarcoma Treatment (BEST) Grant for All, named after a remarkable teenager who was fighting Ewing sarcoma and passed away in 2022.
Forever Martha Strong
An EPICC Outcome for One Little Girl
Research supported by St. Baldrick’s donors has always made an epic impact. Here’s an example of how one research team has made a huge difference for one little girl.
Mary posing in front of flowers.
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