CURE Childhood Cancer Announces over $4 million in Research Awards

CURE Announces Over $4 Million in Research Awards

CURE Childhood Cancer is increasing its impact into research that will develop effective treatments for the 20% of children not surviving current methods. In the past ten years alone, CURE has raised more than $35 million to fund cutting-edge research and provide critical support to families dealing with a cancer diagnosis. Our unwavering commitment is to find a cure for childhood cancer in our lifetime.

To that end, CURE announces funding in excess of $4 million for our fiscal year 2017-2018. This amount includes our largest grant ever – a $1.5 million award for the development of the Aflac Cancer Center Precision Medicine Program. The program, which will be led by Douglas K. Graham, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Aflac Cancer Center and professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, envisions personalized, non-toxic and curative cancer therapy for all children.

“We are so grateful to CURE for this generous gift and their continued support of our patients and researchers as we work to develop new treatments for childhood cancer,” says Dr. Graham. “Through the systematic implementation of integrated, comprehensive tumor profiling and the development of novel strategies to identify individual tumors’ vulnerabilities, the Precision Medicine Program will provide state-of-the-art care for children with the highest risk tumors. Our hope is that we will be able to share these treatments with centers around the country as our new approaches are adopted elsewhere.”

“We are very excited to grow our long-standing relationship with the Aflac Cancer Center by fully funding the new Precision Medicine Program,” says Kristin Connor, CURE Childhood Cancer’s Executive Director. “CURE’s mission is to drive innovative childhood cancer research that will move the needle closer to therapies with fewer side effects for children with cancer and, eventually, cures. We believe bringing Precision Medicine capabilities to Atlanta is a very important step in advancing our mission.”

In addition to the Precision Medicine Program, CURE is awarding another $1.26 million to projects at the AFLAC Cancer Center and $1.3 million at centers of excellence around the country.

CURE’s full awards are as follows:

AFLAC Cancer & Blood Disorders, Emory University

Graham, Douglas K. MD, PhD, Aflac Cancer Center Precision Medicine Program

Spencer, H. Trent Ph.D, Manufacturing of a GMP compliant T-cell product to treat high risk neuroblastoma

Porter, Christopher C. MD, Targeting Siglee15 for the treatment of childhood leukemia

MacDonald, Tobey J. MD, Combined CSF-1R and STAT3 Inhibition as a Novel Immunotherapeutic Strategy for Medulloblastoma

Gu, Lubing MD, MDM4-TOP2A interaction as potential target for treatment of pediatric cancers (Renewal of 2016-2017 CURE funded project)

Kenney, Anna PhD/Dey, Targeting YB1 to prevent post-radiation medulloblastoma recurrence

Zhou, Muxiang M.D., Targeting MYCN mRNA for treatment of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma of children

Van Meir, Erwin, G PhD, Investigating the tumor suppressor function of BAI3 in WNT medulloblastoma

Graham, Doug and Deborah DeRyckere, MERTK Inhibitor Combination Therapy for Treatment of AML

Thomas Cash, MD, MSc, A Phase I Study of 131I-MIBG with Dinutuximab for Relapsed/Refractory

Himalee Sabnis, MD, MSc, ENCERT: A Phase 1 Trial using Everolimus in combination with Nelarabine, Cyclophosphamide and Etoposide in Relapsed T cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia/Lymphoma

Children’s Oncology Group & Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Meshinchi, Soheil MD, PhD, Target Pediatric AML

Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute

Keller, Charles MD, Prediction & Validation of a Novel Drug Combination Against Anaplastic Wilms’ tumor

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Steven DuBois, MD MS, Phase 1 Trial of Dual PI3K/BRD4 Inhibitor for Children with Neuroblastoma

Seattle Children’s Hospital

Leslie Kean, MD, A First-in-Disease Phase II Trial of T cell Costimulation Blockade for GVHD Prevention

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Felix, Carolyn MD, Mechanism-Based Prevention of TOP2-Poison Related Leukemia

The University of Utah

Jones, Kevin B. Epigenetic Drivers of Clear Cell Sarcoma

Cure In Research

An Effective Two-Part Treatment Against Deadly Cancer

Dr. Thomas Cash has never forgotten the precocious two year-old cancer patient and his family. He had gotten close to them while treating the toddler’s cancer.

But he couldn’t save the little boy. “I realized I had two ways to go: I could stay really sad,” he said. “Or this could drive me forward in finding better treatments – so that other children and their parents would never have to go through this.”

Dr. Cash, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, now focuses on neuroblastoma, one of the most common cancers seen in children. It’s also one of the most deadly if a cancer patient doesn’t respond to treatment or the cancer returns after initial rounds of therapy.

“Relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma is incurable in the majority of cases,” explains Dr. Cash. “This is why there is such an urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches.”

Statistically, neuroblastoma comprises eight percent of all childhood cancer cases, and it is responsible for 12 percent of cancer deaths in children under 15 years of age. In addition, one in two neuroblastoma patients are classified as high-risk, and half of these children will die from their disease despite intensive treatments.

To combat those statistics, Dr. Cash is developing a new attack plan – taking two effective fighters against neuroblastoma and combining them into one powerful treatment.

One is a compound called Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), which can be combined with a radioactive iodine that delivers targeted radiation to the cancer cells. The other is Dinutuximab, which is an antibody that binds to GD2, a tumor surface marker which is prevalent in neuroblastoma. Dr. Cash believes if they are combined as a “one-two punch,” it will be a powerful new tool.

A key reason is that MIBG is already known to be effective in “sneak attacks” against cancer. MIBG, which mimics a natural hormone, can be absorbed by certain tissues, including some tumors. But then,radiation can then attack the tumors in a classic bait-and-switch.

Dr. Cash believes that if MIBG is paired with Dinutuximab, the approach will be even stronger. “We believe that both working together could be a very effective combined force. That’s because once the MIBG is in the patient’s body, we think it revs up the patient’s own immune system, and then like pouring gas on a fire, when we add the Dinutuximab, the patient’s own immune system will attack the tumors and kill them.”

Several factors will have to be examined in the study, including the toxicity of this new therapy (previous studies have proven it is safe to combine MIBG with other chemotherapies), and the right dosages of these two therapies when they are given together.

The Phase 1 study, funded by CURE, will enroll mostly children, but patients up to 30 years old can enroll. It will involve between six and eight weeks of the novel treatment.

“I think the most exciting thing for families who are dealing with this is this study takes two treatments that we know are effective in treating neuroblastoma and combines them together,” Dr. Cash said. “And we here at the Aflac Cancer Center are the only ones doing it.”

And most importantly, the study allows Dr. Cash to continue to honor a family and a little boy who meant so much to him by exploring new options which could keep the littlest of patients alive.

“A cure for most neuroblastoma patients whose cancer has relapsed is not currently an achievable goal,” he said. “But I think if we can turn the cancer into a chronic disease and give these kids many more good years, then that’s also a big win – not just for us, but mainly our patients and their families.”

Cure In Childhood Cancer, Research

Staggering yet Stagnant Innovation

What are the greatest innovations of the last forty years? Going back to our bicentennial – 1976, can you come up with the top scientific, technological, and medical discoveries that have impacted society? I had the opportunity to speak to a middle school class in Decatur, GA last week and posed that very question. Although they’ve only been alive for one decade, hands shot up all over the classroom and I began to field their responses:

“The Internet!”

Correct! There was no internet or social media. We talked to each other.

“Cell phones!”

I mentioned rotary phones but lacked the Pictionary skills to make them understand rotary dialing.

“Mobile devices!”

Another good answer. I explained the huge shoulder boom boxes but since they can store a thousand songs on a device the size of a quarter, it was lost on them.

“Color Television!”

No, we had color tv’s but only three channels with no cable or satellite.

Mouths dropped.

“Space travel!”

Well, a man walked on the moon in 1969 but you are right, there has been a great deal of space innovation since. We’ve even sent a rover to Mars.

“The Gyro Rocketter!”

I suppose so. I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is.

“You couldn’t know, I only invented it just now.”

A shy hand went halfway up nearby. With the others bemoaning how hard life must have been in the paleo-internet age, I called on the young man who tentatively asked:

“I don’t mean to offend you, but did you fear from dinosaurs back then?”

Thus ended the question and answer portion of the presentation.

When you think about it, the innovation of the last forty years has been staggering. Yet in some areas, it remains unbelievably stagnant. While we have made huge leaps of progress in the fight against many forms of cancer, there are still some childhood cancers that have eluded treatment advances altogether. I discovered this fact when my daughter was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma at the age of twelve. We were given a treatment protocol which I was told would have been nearly identical to what I would have been given had I gotten the same cancer at twelve. I am not quite as old as dinosaurs, but I was twelve in the 70’s and find it unbelievable that during this age of discovery, children are being left behind.

There are various factors contributing to this sad fact. Although incidence rates are increasing, childhood cancers are still classified as rare compared to adult cancers such as lung, breast, and prostate. Funding from the government and large cancer charities lean heavily toward the cancers that affect more people without taking age into consideration. Yet our children are counting on us to do better. Certainly there are good doctors and researchers working hard to uncover safer and more effective treatments, but there is still a long way to go. That is why CURE is so vitally important. We focus our funding on projects aimed at improving outcomes for the 20% of children not surviving today’s methods of treatment. In addition, we fund projects for developing therapies that will preserve a child’s quality of life after treatment.

Click here to see a list of the research projects we are currently funding and join our search for a CURE

Current Research

Cure In CURE Childhood Cancer, Nursing & Caregivers, Research

CURE Welcomes Dr. Douglas Graham as the new Director of the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Douglas Graham to the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and introduce him to the CURE community. We enjoy a strong partnership with the Aflac Cancer Center, providing funding for promising research conducted by its researchers, annual funding of two fellows (soon to be three!), and serving patients and families – often within its four walls – cared for its the skilled doctors and nurses. We are proud of and grateful for this partnership. In the letter below, Dr. Graham shares insight and his vision for the Aflac Cancer Center. We look forward to continue to work in partnership for the good of childhood cancer patients and their families and all who care for them.

As the recently appointed Director of the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, it is a privilege to become a part of the CURE Childhood Cancer family. Thank you for your remarkable support which has enabled the Aflac Cancer Center to become one of the premier centers in the country for children to receive every level of cancer care. Your financial support has been critical to our research to develop better cancer treatments, our fellowship program to train the next generation of pediatric cancer doctors and for our clinical care, which includes family emergency funds.

Kristin Connor, CURE’s Executive Director, graciously provided me with this opportunity to give you a little more insight into care and research offered by the Aflac Cancer Center, and a few exciting programs that lie ahead.

The Aflac Cancer Center has made enormous strides with support such as CURE’s, and our advances have been recognized nationally. Last year we were ranked by US News and World Report as the number one program in the state of Georgia to treat pediatric cancer patients and the number nine program in the entire country! We now have 80 pediatric specialists who are hematology/oncology/BMT faculty, and we are one of the five largest pediatric oncology programs in the nation. This is significant because we encounter every type of childhood cancer, and we are able to provide the most sophisticated care for the sickest of children with cancer, while simultaneously being a top-rated research center. We are a major referral center for the country, having cared for children from 43 states.

We participate nationally in the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), which is a collaborative group of cancer doctors across the country who take care of more than 90% of all children with cancer in the US. Within COG, we have been selected as one of only 21 sites (out of 223 COG member institutions) to be given access to the newest of cancer drugs in early phase clinical trials through the COG Phase I Consortium. Our goal is to continue to offer new therapies through COG as well as to move new treatment ideas into the clinic developed by our cancer physicians and researchers. Some new research discoveries both in gene therapy and in new cancer drug development made by our faculty are the basis for new clinical trials which are planned to be launched in the coming year in brain tumors and in leukemia.

Two examples of innovative therapies we have initiated at the Aflac Cancer Center are our MIBG program for neuroblastoma and our CAR-T immunotherapy program for relapsed childhood leukemia. We are one of the few places in the country to offer MIBG therapy, and the COG is including the Aflac Cancer Center as one of the treatment sites for an upcoming MIBG clinical trial. A new MIBG treatment room is being planned to accommodate this anticipated increase in patient referrals.

The CAR-T therapy for relapsed leukemia involves harnessing one’s own immune system to combat cancer. In this type of therapy, immune cells (T cells) are taken from the leukemia patient and modified in cell culture to be able to seek out and kill leukemia cells. The Aflac Cancer Center is one of only a handful of centers in the country to be selected as a treatment site. This therapy is successful in offering hope to children with resistant leukemia who have no other treatment options resulting in cures not previously possible.

Thank you, again, for your remarkable support of cutting edge research to cure more kids, and for your dedication to provide family centered care for kids with cancer. I look forward to continuing our strong partnership so that we can provide the best care possible for children with cancer, both today and tomorrow.