Grants Search Results

Cancer cells rely on specific nutrients for growth and survival, rendering nutrient restriction as a potential therapeutic strategy. Along this line, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells have been found to be dependent on exogenous supply of asparagine, a nonessential amino acid, for protein synthesis. As a result, depletion of asparagine in the blood stream by L-asparaginase, a chemo-agent, has been successfully used to treat pediatric ALL for 40 years. However, ALL patients can develop resistance to the continuous application of this chemo-agent. Dr. Zhang is determining how ALL cells become resistant to L-asparaginase treatment, and therefore to provide experimental evidence of novel therapeutic targets that can potentially improve the outcome in pediatric ALL patients.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in childhood. The survival rate remains dismal, mainly due to ineffective therapeutic approaches for the relapsed/metastatic patients. One major obstacle of treating osteosarcoma is lack of suitable preclinical models. Dr. He's studies have established the first cultured osteosarcoma tissue model (an organoid). Dr. He aims to establish the first biobank of osteosarcoma organoids from patients as an open resource for the field, and utilize this organoid biobank to evaluate a novel class of therapeutics targeting key signaling pathways in osteosarcoma cells. This study will provide a powerful platform for predicting clinical treatment responses and developing new therapeutics for treating osteosarcoma.

NUT midline carcinoma (NMC) is a deadly cancer that affects children and young adults, with a survival of less than 7 months. NMC is caused by a protein called BRD4-NUT that changes the structure of DNA in such a way that the DNA drives expression of cancer-associated genes that promote growth of NMC. Dr. French proposes to determine what is actually happening to the structure of the DNA that allows it to express the cancer-driving genes. There are two protein types he suspects are helping BRD4-NUT distort the DNA conformation; these are called HDACs and HATs. Dr. French's team will use state-of-the-art inhibitors that target specific HDACs and HATs to determine their respective roles and help identify novel therapeutics to treat this incurable disease.

As the recipient of the Rosa and Francesco Romanello St. Baldrick's Research Grant, Dr. Lawlor is studying an aggressive tumor called Ewing sarcoma that occurs most often in teenagers. It usually starts in a bone and then can spread or metastasize throughout the body. Once it has spread, the chances of cure are very poor. She is studying how the tumor cells change the surrounding normal tissues to allow the tumor cells to leave the bone and spread to other sites in the body. Results so far have shown that the tumor cells and the normal tissues "talk to each other" and that this crosstalk is likely to be essential for the growth and spread of the tumor, both within the bone as well as in other tissues. Dr. Lawlor will decipher these messages, and the instructions they convey, so that new therapies can be developed that will intercept them and block tumor spread. This grant is named in recognition of Salvatore Romanello for his decade of service as pro bono general counsel to the St. Baldrick's Foundation. He has chosen to name the grant in honor of his parents who instilled in him the values of generosity and caring for a greater cause.

This year it is estimated that 800 children will be diagnosed with osteosarcoma. It is thought that sex hormones play a role in the onset of the disease, as more boys than girls get osteosarcoma and the cancer develops at the time of puberty. Dr. Miranda hypothesizes that a key molecule in estrogen signaling is turned off in osteosarcomas, preventing those cells from being normal bone. Her preliminary data shows that she can turn back on that key estrogen signaling protein. These drugs have not been tested in osteosarcoma patients, but are FDA-approved drugs, so they could provide a treatment for osteosarcoma patients in the immediate future. This grant is generously supported by the Sweet Caroline Fund created to honor the memory of Caroline Richards who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 11. She persevered through rigorous treatments with a giving spirit and a contagious smile, always thinking of how to make others happy or laugh. This fund pays tribute to her compassion for others by supporting osteosarcoma research to help kids with cancer

The goal of Dr. Riehle's research is to find a cure for a rare form of liver cancer that occurs in children and young adults, called fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC). Unfortunately, surgery is currently the only effective treatment option for these patients, and once the disease has spread outside of the liver there is no chance for cure. Dr. Riehle's laboratory has spent the last few years trying to understand what changes within the liver cause healthy kids to get this cancer, and has developed a couple of new models of FL-HCC that can be used for drug screening. In this project she is using these models to test new treatment options and to try to understand how this cancer develops.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in childhood. The survival rate remains dismal, mainly due to ineffective therapeutic approaches for the relapsed/metastatic patients. One major obstacle of treating osteosarcoma is lack of suitable preclinical models. Dr. He's studies have established the first cultured osteosarcoma tissue model (an organoid). Dr. He aims to establish the first biobank of osteosarcoma organoids from patients as an open resource for the field, and utilize this organoid biobank to evaluate a novel class of therapeutics targeting key signaling pathways in osteosarcoma cells. This study will provide a powerful platform for predicting clinical treatment responses and developing new therapeutics for treating osteosarcoma.

In the U.S., children with a blood cancer called Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are usually treated successfully. Some of these children will suffer health problems several years later because of the treatment they received. Because of this, doctors use powerful imaging tools to identify patients who are likely to do well or not. Those who are likely to do well require less treatment and those who are less likely to do well can receive more treatment. But in low-income countries like Malawi, these tools are unavailable, and the children there often receive treatment that may be unnecessary. Scientists have found unique abnormalities in adults with HL that can tell us who is less likely to do well. Here, Dr. Ozuah is testing whether these abnormalities are present in children and could be used to decide how best to treat children with HL in low-middle income countries

In the U.S., children with a blood cancer called Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are usually treated successfully. Some of these children will suffer health problems several years later because of the treatment they received. Because of this, doctors use powerful imaging tools to identify patients who are likely to do well or not. Those who are likely to do well require less treatment and those who are less likely to do well can receive more treatment. But in low-income countries like Malawi, these tools are unavailable, and the children there often receive treatment that may be unnecessary. Scientists have found unique abnormalities in adults with HL that can tell us who is less likely to do well. Here, Dr. Ozuah is testing whether these abnormalities are present in children and could be used to decide how best to treat children with HL in low-middle income countries

Do you ever get a cold sore on your lip, or know someone who does? That sore is caused by a virus that destroys the cells in your lip. As the virus spreads, the sore gets bigger. Viruses are great at killing cells and spreading. But, the sore eventually goes away because the immune system attacks the infected cells, killing them and stopping the viral infection, allowing your lip to heal. Imagine if we could get both the virus and the immune system to kill cancer cells instead of lip cells! Previously Dr. Haworth's team used a safe version of the cold sore virus to infect a common type of hard-to-treat childhood cancer cells. The virus directly killed cancer cells and caused the immune system to attack the cancer cells that the virus missed. Dr. Haworth's team is testing ways to make the virus and immune system work better together. Dr. Haworth is infecting model tumors with the virus, and giving immune cells designed to attack the tumor, hypothesizing that giving both virus and immune cells will cure the tumor. Awarded at The Research Institute at Nationwide and transferred to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children, and ependymomas are the third most common kind. Recent studies have shown that educating the patients own immune system to fight cancers immunotherapy can be safe and effective. Dr. Kohanbash's team has identified three peptides that might activate immune cells to specifically fight one of the more lethal types of ependymoma. Dr. Kohanbash is testing these peptides in the lab. He is also looking at how immunotherapy could help fight all six types of ependymoma that affect kids, and thus is studying relevant characteristics in the largest-ever series of pediatric ependymoma tumors as well as in ependymoma patients already participating in a clinical trial of a vaccine based on another peptide. A portion of this grant is generously co-supported by the Henry Cermak Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research and the Team Campbell Foundation. The Henry Cermak Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund was created in memory of a brave boy who had an amazing spirit throughout his battle with a brain tumor. This fund is dedicated to Henry’s wish that “no one gets left out.” The Team Campbell Foundation, a St. Baldrick's partner, was established in memory of Campbell Hoyt, who courageously battled anaplastic ependymoma, a rare cancer of the brain and spine for five years. Its mission is to improve the lives of families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis through raising awareness, funding research and providing psycho-social enrichment opportunities. A portion of Dr. Kohanbash's grant was also generously supported by the Henry Cermak Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Reducing Ethnic Disparities in Acute Leukemia (REDIAL) Consortium. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Reducing Ethnic Disparities in Acute Leukemia (REDIAL) Consortium. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Cimmino was awarded a new grant in 2020 to fund an additional year of this Scholar grant. Vitamin C is essential for maintaining healthy hair, skin, immune system and heart function. In addition to these health benefits, Dr. Cimmino and team propose that vitamin C might be a non-toxic therapeutic for the treatment of patients with pediatric acute myeloid leukemia. Recently, it was discovered that vitamin C enhances the activation of a group of enzymes called TET proteins that are required for normal blood development. A significant fraction of children and young adolescents with acute myeloid leukemia have mutations in TET2, causing impaired TET2 activity and a block in normal blood cell formation. However, only one of the two copies of the TET2 gene is defective in these patients. Dr. Cimmino's team is working to determine if treatment with high-dose vitamin C could enhance the activity of the remaining, non-mutant, TET2 protein, kill leukemia cells and restore normal blood development. Alternative therapies such as treatment with vitamin C might provide a safe and effective strategy to improve outcome for pediatric leukemia patients. Awarded at the New York University School of Medicine, and transferred to University of Miami.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Reducing Ethnic Disparities in Acute Leukemia (REDIAL) Consortium. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

While great strides have been made in treating children with acute leukemia, some children continue to do poorly. For example, children of Hispanic ethnicity are at greater risk of both relapse and treatment-related complications. The Reducing Ethnic Disparities in Acute Leukemia (REDIAL) Consortium will expand and enhance an established network of childhood cancer centers, with the goal of tackling ethnic outcome disparities by generating an unmatched resource of clinical information and biological samples. This information will be used to predict those who have the greatest risk of poor outcomes, with a focus on those of Hispanic ethnicity, to improve prevention and treatment strategies. This grant is generously supported by Micaela's Army Foundation which was established in loving memory of Micaela White who fiercely fought Acute Myeloid Leukemia at the age of 18. Their mission is to raise money to help fund cancer research, education, awareness, and patient support for the cancers that affect children and their families.

Neurons are nerve cells that populate certain regions of the human body and are responsible for transmitting chemical signals back and forth to the brain to regulate critical bodily functions. A deadly form of pediatric cancer, known as neuroblastoma, occurs when a subset of these neurons start to proliferate uncontrollably. These cancer cells can migrate and spread throughout the body, making it very challenging to treat with currently available drugs. This highly aggressive form of neuroblastoma occurs in children who are older than 18 months. At such an early age, this disease can be quite devastating and there is an imperative need to better understand how this form of neuroblastoma develops. Recent work has identified pediatric cancer mutations in distinct specialized proteins that regulate chromatin (the complex of DNA and proteins), known as chromatin remodelers. One such protein, ATRX, was recently found to be mutated frequently in neuroblastoma tumors identified in adolescent and young adults, which have poor overall survival. Dr. Bernstein is exploring a novel therapy for neuroblastoma patients that harbor ATRX mutations thorough innovative and state-of-the-art approaches. Dr. Bernstein's team is comparing the cellular changes that occur in the presence of the drug in models of neuroblastoma.

Women who are diagnosed with cancer before 40 are often concerned about whether they will be able to have children in the future. Women can freeze their eggs or embryos (called fertility preservation) to help protect their fertility, but these services may not be widely available. Dr. Nichols has looked at how often women in North Carolina have children after cancer treatment and whether the health of their babies is different from women without cancer. She is further examining the use of fertility preservation after diagnosis and its association with birth rates and outcomes. This research will provide information to improve the long-term health of AYAs with cancer.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Reducing Ethnic Disparities in Acute Leukemia (REDIAL) Consortium. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Reducing Ethnic Disparities in Acute Leukemia (REDIAL) Consortium. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.