Cause for Hope

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A R E P O R T O N O U R Q U E S T T O E R A D I C AT E C H I L D H O O D C A N C E R

On Cover: Charlie, 3, treated for neuroblastoma

You gave Farah cause for hope.

Thank you.

Farah, 12, treated for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

This past year has been one of tremendous growth for the Cancer Center at The

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. We are fortunate that, for the first time, all of

the many talented and dedicated people working to fight childhood cancer at this

hospital are together in one place: the Ruth and Tristram Colket, Jr. Translational

Research Building.

As we’ve gained additional space, the Cancer Center staff has grown in size and

productivity. I have seen the results in our work on neuroblastoma, and I have seen

great strides being made by my colleagues. It has been a truly invigorating year,

directly fueled by your generous and committed support.

Donors are the driving force behind the level of achievement I see coming from

Cancer Center employees every day, all year long. From the $20 annual gift to

the once-in-a-lifetime gift in someone’s estate plans, the combined power of

philanthropy makes possible the outstanding care available to cancer patients at

CHOP. Thank you for being our partner in this work and providing the resources

to offer children in need the very best care. To find out more about how you can

help, please call Lynn Salvo, director of Development, at 267-425-2086.

Sincerely,

John M. Maris, M.D.

Chief, Division of Oncology

Director, Center for Childhood Cancer Research

Giulio D’Angio Endowed Chair in Neuroblastoma Research

A message from John M. Maris, M.D.

John M. Maris, M.D., with Sebastian, 8, treated for neuroblastoma

Celebrating the remarkable career of Audrey E. Evans, M.D., the first chief of CHOP’s Division of Oncology

Four decades after joining The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to be the first chief of the Division of Oncology, Audrey E. Evans, M.D., retired last year, leaving behind a remarkable legacy. Tremendous progress has been made in treating childhood cancers over the last 40 years, and many of those advances came about because of Evans’ vision and dedication.

“As the first division chief of Oncology at CHOP, she provided the direction and the inspiration for where we are now,” says John M. Maris, M.D., the current chief. He added that Evans was the first to work on creating a way to safely research pediatric cancer treatments while simultaneously providing the best care possible. “That is at the core of what we are doing today,” Maris says.

Evans was also the first to recognize the need for diverse sources of funding if the Division of Oncology was to be able to accomplish its ambitious goals. Revenue from treating patients was, and continues to be, insufficient to maintain the level of scientific investigation required to make significant gains in the fight against childhood cancer. Evans began the search for additional funds for the division from government grants and, critically, from private donors inspired to join CHOP’s mission.

In medicine, in research and in philanthropy, Evans has been a trailblazer, laying groundwork decades ago that has led to the successes of the Cancer Center today. At a ceremony earlier this year, a portrait of Evans was unveiled and now hangs in CHOP’s Joseph Stokes Jr. Auditorium, alongside other physician leaders and previous Hospital CEOs. The simple act of honoring Evans broke even more ground, as she is the first woman depicted in a portrait in this prestigious setting.

“She has always been a huge advocate and role model for women in medicine,” Maris says. He added that in addition to the planned speakers for the ceremony, dozens of people stood up at an open mic to offer their own thoughts of how valuable Evans had been to their own careers, to CHOP and to pediatric oncology in general.

Though Evans is officially retired, she still serves as “a critic, in a good way,” according to Maris, who says she helps to ensure no one at the Cancer Center loses sight of the reason they do all the work they do: the children with cancer they’re treating today, and the children who will develop cancer in the future and have a chance for even better treatments thanks to the research program Evans helped to build. v

A Le

gacy

of H

ope

CHOP CEO Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., with Audrey E. Evans, M.D.

Tremendous progress has been made in treating childhood cancers over

the last 40 years, and many of those advances came about because of

Audrey Evans’ vision and dedication.

Audrey E. Evans, M.D., and John M. Maris, M.D., with

the portrait of Evans that hangs in CHOP’s Joseph Stokes Jr.

Auditorium

Support from many sources essential to Cancer Center research program

The Cancer Center is extremely fortunate to have a large group of generous donors who are committed to helping us sustain and expand our vast research program. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which awarded our investigators $1.1 million in grants this year, is just one of the many philanthropic organizations that support our work.

In 2010, CHOP researchers received St. Baldrick’s grants in three categories:

n Research Grant: Michael D. Hogarty, M.D., received a research grant that will allow him to continue a pioneering effort to sequence the entire neuroblastoma genome. Working with the Children’s Oncology Group and collaborators at Johns Hopkins University, Hogarty is identifying the compendium of DNA mutations associated with neuroblastoma, enabling future research into new possibilities for therapies for this difficult-to-treat cancer. This is the second year that St. Baldrick’s has provided funding for Hogarty’s groundbreaking work.

n Scholar Grant: Robin L. Perry, M.D., received a three-year grant to support research on the biology of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Perry is studying specific proteins that are involved in AML, as well as a drug that can kill AML cells, in an effort to identify new, less toxic therapies for AML patients.

n Fellowship Grants: Pediatric oncology fellows spend most of their last two years of training working on a research project with a faculty mentor — vital work that would not be possible without support from organizations like St. Baldrick’s, which provide the young researchers with critical funding. Two Cancer Center investigators received fellowship grants from St. Baldrick’s in 2010:

• Andrew Wood, M.D., is building on a groundbreaking 2008 CHOP discovery by Yael P. Mossé, M.D. — that mutations in the ALK gene cause neuroblastoma — with a project focused on determining precisely how these mutations cause the disease. His work could lead to new treatments.

• Sogol Mostoufi-Moab, M.D., received a third year of funding to continue research she began during her fellowship. Mostoufi-Moab is evaluating abnormalities in bone structure and body composition in survivors of childhood leukemia after a bone marrow transplant. This area of research is expected to provide the knowledge necessary to identify the best strategies for improving bone health in this vulnerable population.

CHOP has long had a close relationship with St. Baldrick’s. In previous years, the Foundation provided support for several other CHOP researchers, including Anne E. Kazak, Ph.D., and Garrett M. Brodeur, M.D., the Audrey E. Evans Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology, as well as for the Children’s Oncology Group neuroblastoma bank housed at CHOP. v

“We are very proud to support the talented and dedicated researchers at CHOP who are working tirelessly each day to

fight childhood cancer.”

– Becky Chapman Weaver, Chief Philanthropy Officer, St. Baldrick’s Foundation

Making Breakthroughs Happen

Coco, 6 months, treated for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia

New research building facilitates teamwork — and innovationMore than three years ago, the members of the cancer leadership team at CHOP had an idea of how they wanted to transform their work by integrating more closely the many staff members who contribute to the world-class cancer research done here. With more space and newer facilities, the Center could recruit more top researchers and encourage even more innovative collaboration among CHOP experts.

The Ruth and Tristram Colket, Jr. Translational Research Building provided the opportunity to achieve the ambitious goal. Named for the couple who gave Children’s Hospital its largest-ever single gift, $25 million, the Colket Building has allowed the Cancer Center to more than quadruple its laboratory and office space, making possible all the changes the team envisioned.

“We are more efficiently getting new drugs and new therapies to clinical trials,” says John M. Maris, M.D. “We have developed the infrastructure to focus on not only getting new drugs but new research programs. It is about every aspect of childhood cancer care and discovering new ways to improve the overall package.”

Research at the Cancer Center is a multidisciplinary effort involving scores of health professionals, all experts in their respective fields, collaborating to continually improve CHOP’s already world-class cancer treatments. But before the Cancer Center was able to house all of its staff in two and a half floors of the Colket Building, researchers were spread throughout the Hospital’s Main Campus.

Since finishing a seven-month moving process this past May, Cancer Center staff are finding it easier to collaborate. Elizabeth Fox, M.D., joined the Cancer Center in January, one of a number of new key recruits the Center was able to bring in thanks to the additional space and infrastructure of the Colket Building. She has found the new arrangement to be very beneficial to her work guiding new drug development at the Center.

“State-of-the-art laboratories, proximity of office and laboratory space, as well as clustering of research and clinical teams in an open layout welcomes interaction and mirrors the collaborative spirit of the faculty and staff of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,” Fox says. “The Colket Translational Research Building contains all of the components to conduct clinical trials.”

Many of those components are in the form of expert staff who provide vital services that facilitate research, from shepherding projects through the Institutional Review Board and other regulatory processes to providing statistical analysis that other labs have to outsource.

The consolidation of research, administrative and other personnel has even improved the patient experience, as support staff offices in the Hospital and the Richard D. Wood Pediatric Ambulatory Care Center have been freed up and used for additional clinical space. v

We are more efficiently getting new drugs and new therapies

to clinical trials.John M. Maris, M.D.

Chief, Division of Oncology

CollaborationMade Easier

“”

T h e R u t h a n d T r i s t r a m C o l k e t , J r . T r a n s l a t i o n a l R e s e a r c h B u i l d i n g

At the signal, the competitive runners sprinted off from the start. But even more impressive were the thousands of walkers who followed — children and adults of all ages, many carrying banners and calling out in support of friends and family members who are battling pediatric cancer.The Four Seasons Parkway Run and Walk, a fall tradition for the past 12 years, has raised more than $3 million for cancer research and programs at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This year it set a record for the amount of money raised, money that will support two crucial programs at the Cancer Center: the Hereditary Cancer Predisposition Program and the Cancer Survivorship Program.A longtime leader in cancer genetics research, CHOP was also the first pediatric institution in the country to focus on the unique needs of children with a genetic predisposition to cancer. “If you know that a child has a specific

condition, you can do something positive about it,” says Kim E. Nichols, M.D., director of the program. Nichols’ staff develops customized monitoring programs for patients so that if cancer does develop, it is detected in its earliest stages — an approach Nichols says could ultimately improve outcomes.In addition, by improving patient and family education and exploring the behavioral and emotional factors that relate to cancer genetic testing, Nichols and her team plan to work with patients and parents as they adjust to the genetic diagnosis and provide the best possible means to ensure that the children develop into healthy, informed adults.For children who do have to face cancer, the Cancer Center and the Four Seasons Parkway Run and Walk provide considerable support. For years, the Four Seasons Parkway Run and Walk has benefited the Hospital’s first-of-its-kind Cancer Survivorship Program, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008.

With more than 270,000 survivors of childhood cancer living in the United States alone, the need for survivorship programs has never been greater. The Survivorship Program’s clinicians care for more than 500 childhood cancer survivors each year, helping them stay healthy and cope with any long-term physical or psychological problems related to their cancer or its treatment. By encouraging survivors and their families to stick with regular follow-up appointments and screenings, the Survivorship Program helps these children remain healthy after the cancer has been eradicated. The program educates parents and survivors about the possible long-term effects of cancer treatments and helps them transition to adult care when they grow up.The Survivorship Program also looks for ways to improve the quality of life for the next generation of survivors — a commitment that led to the development of the Cancer Center’s groundbreaking fertility preservation program,

the most comprehensive one of its kind, which offers a range of fertility preservation options before patients begin any cancer treatment that could put their fertility at risk. “Many families and patients tell us that it provides them with hope,” says Jill P. Ginsberg, M.D., director of the Survivorship Program. “At a time when the family is dealing with a new diagnosis of cancer, we offer them something that shows them we are thinking about patients’ lives when they’re adults and cancer is behind them. It gives them the chance to do something for their future.”From genetic counseling before cancer even develops to care for the adults that childhood cancer survivors will become, the Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia cares for every need of the children entrusted to its physicians, nurses and researchers. So much good is only possible because of the good of so many people, the thousands who participate in the annual Four Seasons Parkway Run and Walk and the thousands more who support them. v cccccccc

Scenes from the 12th annual Four Seasons Parkway Run and Walk. Bottom photo: John M. Maris, M.D., with Paul Urian, senior director of Human Resources at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia

Parents pulled children in red wagons, and large groups stood out in matching, homemade T-shirts, each celebrating the life of a child with cancer.

On a brisk morning in September, a record crowd of more than 7,200 people gathered on Logan Circle to participate in one of Philadelphia’s most popular fundraising events: the Four Seasons Parkway Run and Walk.

Running for the Future

Donors raise awareness and support at fundraising eventsGolf tournaments, fashion shows, dinner dances, wine-tasting events, auctions, concerts, bowling — our donor community has been very busy this year. Thanks to the energy and dedication of the grateful families and fans of the Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, there were dozens of ways to have fun last year while furthering cancer research and care.

It takes the collective energy of a community to support the Cancer Center at CHOP. From the smallest bake sale to the grandest dinner dance, community events bring thousands of people into the donor community at Children’s Hospital, raising more than $500,000 annually, boosting awareness of childhood cancers and having a lot of fun in the process.

Last year hundreds of generous golfers participated in six community-organized golf tournaments to benefit CHOP, raising more than $135,000 for the Cancer Center. The largest, the Andrew’s Army Golf Classic in East Norwalk, Conn., honors Andrew Accardi, whose courage and fight have inspired donors to give more than $300,000 toward neuroblastoma research at CHOP since the annual event began in 2007.

Many donors were downright athletic, whether they participated in the 24 Hour Paddle-a-Thon, a round-the-clock canoeing fundraiser in Medford Lakes, N.J.; the Gloves for Love Beach Baggo Tournament in Stone Harbor, N.J.; or the Bradley’s Buddies 5K Run/Walk in Wenonah, N.J.

Many events raised money for cancer research. Kortney Rose Gillette’s family honors her memory with numerous events from the Kortney’s Challenge run to a luau complete with Hawaiian shave ice. The family of Miriam Quigley celebrated her memory with a wine tasting as well as a dance-a-thon that brought together nearly 1,000 families and raised $50,000 for brain tumor research.

The dancing continued at Babe’s Rainbow Room Bash, an entertainment-filled dance party hosted by The Canuso Foundation at the Cescaphe Ballroom in Philadelphia. Since 1974, the family of Babe Canuso Fischer, a childhood cancer survivor who passed away in 2005 at age 40 from a long-term side effect of her treatment, has raised more than $2 million for cancer research at Children’s Hospital.

The Cancer Center is fortunate that these and so many other groups and individuals came together in creative ways to make a difference for children. With the support of thousands, CHOP’s researchers continue their march toward a cure for childhood cancers.

To register your event benefiting the Cancer Center at Children’s Hospital, contact Community Fundraising at 267-426-6496 or communityfundraising@email.chop.edu. To see a list of all upcoming community events, visit www.giftofchildhood.org. v

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rtThe fifth annual Kortney’s Challenge two-mile fun run/

walk and the Day at the Races event at Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport, N.J. were the most successful ever, with more than 500 participants.

Malcolm Sutherland-Foggio, pictured here with his mom, Julie Sutherland, John M. Maris, M.D., and Richard B. Womer, M.D., returned to CHOP to present the proceeds from the Cure Kids Cancer Foundation black-tie dinner, which raised $100,000 for the Cancer Center.

The Gloves for Love Beach Baggo Tournament was held for the first time

on the beach in Stone Harbor, N.J., and raised

approximately $4,000 for the Cancer Center.

Doctors monitored the tumor closely, performing an MRI every couple of months. “We came in one time and it hadn’t grown at all, then the next time it had,” says Robinson. In the spring of 2010, doctors biopsied the growth. It was a germinoma, a cancerous tumor that can usually be cured with radiation therapy.

Mikayla’s neuro-oncologist, Michael Fisher, M.D., recommended proton therapy, an advanced form of radiation available through the Cancer Center. Proton therapy is able to target radiation directly at a tumor site while minimizing damage to nearby healthy tissue — and greatly reducing the risk of acute and long-term side effects. This precision is especially important for young children like Mikayla, whose bodies are still developing and who are especially susceptible to the damaging effects of radiation.

CHOP proton patients receive their treatments at the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, a 75,000-square-foot facility in Penn Medicine’s Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. The Roberts Center is the first proton facility in the mid-Atlantic region and the only one in the nation that was designed with a pediatric focus from the start. It was made possible by a transformative gift from the Roberts family: Ralph and Suzanne, and Brian and Aileen (CHOP trustee 2004 – 2010).

Anne Reilly, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of the Cancer Center, applauds the Roberts’ commitment to this revolutionary technology, the full potential of which is still to be explored. “It’s a daring thing to invest in,” she says, “and it allows us to move things forward in terms of what we can do for children.”

Mikayla was one of the first pediatric patients to be treated at the Roberts Center. She had five weeks of treatments, and other than a bit of fatigue, “she didn’t really have too many side effects at all,” says her mom. Like every pediatric patient at the Roberts Center, Mikayla is enrolled in a study comparing the long-term side effects of proton radiation with those of standard radiation — research that gives CHOP a unique opportunity to advance this relatively new field.

Mikayla still comes to CHOP often for follow-up, and Robinson says she wouldn’t take her daughter anywhere else. “It’s just the best place,” she says. “Everyone goes above and beyond. You have to reprogram your children once they come home because they’re so spoiled.” v

We’re investing heavily in this therapy that we know will

minimize long-term side effects because we have all these children

who are now surviving their cancers. And

hopefully they’re going to live for

a long time.

Anne Reilly, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of the Cancer Center

Mikayla, 10, treated for a brain tumor

Above and Beyond

Latanya Robinson knew something was wrong with her 10-year-old daughter, Mikayla. “She was urinating every 15 minutes,” she says. After an appointment with a nephrologist, Latanya brought her daughter to Children’s Hospital, where an MRI showed that Mikayla had a brain tumor.

“

” CHOP proton patient Jonathan

Nagrant with staff member Jenna Capece

Mears inside the Roberts Center

Cancer Center begins offering advanced form of radiation therapy

Donor support fuels research on promising immunotherapy treatmentStephan A. Grupp, M.D., Ph.D., director of translational research for CHOP’s Center for Childhood Cancer Research, has long believed that some of the best tools for fighting cancer can be found in a patient’s own body.

Years ago, Grupp and other researchers reasoned that if they could modify the most powerful disease-fighting cells in a patient’s immune system, called T cells, to make them better at finding and destroying cancer, they would have a promising new treatment option. And they had good reason to be hopeful: Another immunotherapy technique, which uses manufactured antibodies to target cancer cells for destruction, was producing dramatic responses in lymphoma patients. Grupp believed that T cell immunotherapy would be even more effective, as well as gentler on patients.

But researchers who tried the T cell approach had trouble making enough of the modified cells. And the cells they did make didn’t work very well. “We had all the ideas,” says Grupp, “but we didn’t really have the techniques to make it truly work.”

And so it stood for years — until the Jeffrey Jay Weinberg Memorial Foundation stepped forward with a series of extraordinary gifts.

The Foundation’s support allowed Grupp and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania to refine the techniques that would make the T cell approach feasible — and to start gathering the data they would need to begin a clinical trial. Philanthropy was critical to the work, says Grupp, because it can be difficult to get federal funding for research that moves beyond the lab and focuses on turning scientific discoveries into new treatments.

Such projects are a priority at the Cancer Center, where researchers benefit from the state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories in the new Ruth and Tristram Colket,

Jr. Translational Research Building. Most recently, Grupp and John M. Maris, M.D., were part of a group of researchers who found that a new type of antibody immunotherapy improved two-year survival rates in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma by 20 percent — the first significant increase in neuroblastoma cure rates in more than a decade. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Now, thanks to the Weinberg Foundation’s support, Grupp’s T cell immunotherapy approach is moving forward, too. A clinical trial of the treatment just opened at Penn and Children’s Hospital for leukemia patients, and Grupp and his colleagues hope to offer it to neuroblastoma patients next.

And while the leukemia trial is still in its very earliest stages, the treatment appears to be working well for the first adult patients who received it.

That’s exciting news for cancer patients everywhere — and for Stephan Grupp, it’s a dream come true. v

Immunotherapy uses a patient’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells.

It is used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and neuroblastoma, among other cancers.

Alix Seif, M.D., M.P.H., who works closely with Stephan Grupp, M.D., Ph.D., received

the inaugural Center for Childhood Cancer Research

Canuso Foundation Innovation Grant in 2010. The award is funded by The Canuso Foundation.

Finding Hope

Trey, 2, treated for neuroblastoma

Certain holidays are especially meaningful for the family. “Louis died on the day after Easter, and we remember him at this time,” says Amie. Christmas is another favorite time of giving because the family gives in Louis’ memory to help all of the children who are still suffering.

The family’s most recent major gift established the Louis and Amelia Canuso Family Endowed Chair for Clinical Research in Oncology, ensuring that this legacy of generosity continues for generations to come.

“We wanted to take it another step,” says Joe Canuso, Louis and Amie’s eldest son. “We wanted to make sure that within our family, Children’s Hospital was always remembered.”

The Canuso Family Endowed Chair’s inaugural holder, Frank M. Balis, M.D., is director of clinical research for the Division of Oncology and the Center for Childhood Cancer Research. The endowment will be used to support his work, which focuses on developing innovative treatments for pediatric cancers.

Balis came to CHOP in 2009 after 27 years at the National Cancer Institute, where he gained national prominence for his pioneering drug development work. In his first year at Children’s Hospital, the funds associated with the endowed chair allowed him to begin expanding the Cancer Center’s clinical research infrastructure. Balis and his team are implementing a new software system to manage clinical trials and the data they generate, establishing a support office to help investigators develop and submit new protocols, and hiring additional staff — all work that wouldn’t be possible without the support of the Canuso family.

“We feel privileged and proud to sponsor Dr. Balis,” says Louis. “We hope that the most promising discoveries in the labs find their way quickly to treating the children who are suffering from leukemia and other childhood cancers, and that there will also be new discoveries and treatments to alleviate the terrible pain that is associated with cancer. And most importantly we hope and pray that a cure for leukemia will be found soon.”

The Canusos are founding members of the Chairman’s Circle, a group of donors who have given $1 million or more to Children’s Hospital. To find out how you can support the Hospital’s efforts to find a cure for childhood cancer, call 267-425-2086. v

One Family’s Gift to the Future

We wanted to make sure that within our family, Children’s Hospital was always remembered.Joe Canuso

“

”

The Canuso family with Cancer Center staff at the July 13 dedication of the Canuso Family Endowed Chair. “It was an emotional day for our family,” says Louis Canuso. “It was wonderful to have three generations present to celebrate this milestone in our 50 years of giving to CHOP.”

Giving to Children’s Hospital has always been very important to Louis

and Amelia Canuso and their family.

Louis and Amie made their first gift to the Hospital more than 50 years ago,

after their 4-year-old son, Louis Jr., a CHOP patient, died of leukemia.

And the entire Canuso family — including Louis and Amie’s children and grandchildren — has continued

to support the Hospital ever since.

Louis P. and Amie Canuso hold a photo of their son Louis Jr.

Longtime donors fund endowed chair in clinical research

Adamson to Lead International Cancer Research EffortsOn Jan. 1, 2011, Peter C. Adamson, M.D., director of Clinical and Translational Research and chief of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at CHOP, will become chairman of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), a collaborative research organization that is leading international efforts to find new cures for children with cancer. Adamson is world-renowned for his work in pediatric cancer drug development. In a previous role at COG, he led an effort that brought together 21 sites to do preliminary evaluations of pediatric cancer drugs — work that resulted in more than 25 studies over the course of eight years. As the chairman of COG, Adamson will be committed to improving the development process for pediatric cancer drugs, so that more effective new therapies reach the patients who need them. COG’s work is supported by the National Cancer Institute and a number of philanthropic organizations, including CureSearch and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

Kang Receives CHOP’s Prestigious Master Clinician AwardTammy I. Kang, M.D., a CHOP oncologist and the director of the Hospital’s Pediatric Advanced Care Team, has been named one of CHOP’s 2010 Master Clinicians. The award, which was established four years ago with an endowment from the Department of Pediatrics in partnership with the Hospital, recognizes physicians who demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to patient care as well as superb clinical skills. Past recipients of the award include Jean B. Belasco, M.D., and Anne Reilly, M.D., M.P.H., both from the Division of Oncology.

CHOP Investigators Receive Grant to Study Innovative Targeted TherapyGarrett M. Brodeur, M.D., the Audrey E. Evans Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology, and Robert J. Levy, M.D., the William J. Rashkind Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiology, have partnered on research investigating the feasibility of delivering a targeted drug, the TRK inhibitor lestaurtinib, directly to neuroblastoma cells using nanoparticles. If the approach is successful, it would represent the first time that a targeted delivery method has been combined with a targeted drug to treat a pediatric cancer. Brodeur and Levy believe this novel therapy will be more effective — and cause fewer side effects — than current treatments, and they plan to test it in combination with conventional and biological agents in the hope of further improving outcomes for patients. Earlier this year, they received a three-year, $600,000 grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research to support their work.

CHOP Scientist Named Scholar of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society It takes experts from all subspecialties to provide the best care for children with cancer. Cancer Center staff are fortunate to work very closely with scientists from other disciplines, including Craig Bassing, Ph.D., of CHOP’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, who has a particular interest in how cancer develops from the aberrant repair of genomic lesions and how this knowledge can be exploited for patient-tailored therapies. Bassing was recently named a scholar of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, an award that will provide him with funding to translate basic science findings into less toxic and more specific treatments for leukemia and lymphoma. One of his current research projects focuses on identifying the central biological processes that protect the body’s own immune cells from accumulating cancerous lesions — work that should lead to significant advances in understanding how most cancers initially develop and become resistant to treatment. Such knowledge is critical for the more effective treatment of lymphoma and other childhood cancers with fewer side effects.

Oncology News Briefs

Thank You

The children you see throughout this report

are our patients. It is for them, and for the many

others in our care, that we relentlessly pursue the

next advances in cancer treatment and research.

Your support is vital to the work of the Cancer

Center. To learn more about how you can

help, please contact Lynn Salvo, director of

Development, at 267-425-2086 or

salvol@email.chop.edu.

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