Hannah Adams (L) and Ryan Darby (R), have both beat cancer. (Hyundai Hope on Wheels)
Most children have a naturally positive attitude about the future.
But the youthful optimism shown by 12-year-old cancer survivor Hannah
Adams is especially remarkable, which is why she and fellow survivor
Ryan Darby, also 12, will spend most of their summer visiting other
children undergoing treatment for the types of cancer they survived.
“I feel like we’re giving them hope,” she said.
The duo are serving as this year’s youth ambassadors for Hyundai Hope on Wheels (HHOW), a foundation
dedicated to fighting childhood cancers. Recently, the organization
allocated $1 million each to four organizations and researchers they
believe to be on the cusp of reaching major breakthroughs in the cure
for childhood cancer.
Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby. (Hyundai Hope on Wheels)
The organization
allocated $1 million each to four organizations and researchers they
believe to be on the cusp of reaching major breakthroughs in the cure
for childhood cancer.
Only about 4 percent of federal spending on cancer research actually
goes toward fighting pediatric cancers; yet, every day, 36 children in
America are diagnosed with cancer. And while about 80 percent of cancer
cases are cured these days, the disease in its various forms remains the
leading cause of death by disease among children in the United States.
To bridge that gap, the South Korean car-maker Hyundai teamed with
some of its dealers in New England in 1998 to create HHOW, a foundation
whose mission has always been to specifically address the needs of
childhood cancer research. Nearly 18 years later, every Hyundai
dealership in the United States has joined with contributions, and HHOW
has given $115 million in grants to cancer researchers.
Last month, HHOW awarded four separate, $1 million Quantum grants to researchers targeting childhood cancers.
“It’s a really exciting time for this kind of research,” said Dr.
Marie Bleakley of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle,
one of the four research teams to receive a grant.
With a focus on Pediatric Leukemia, Bleakley has been working
alongside Dr. Soheil Meshinchi studying ways to use T-cells as a form of
immunotherapy and effectively enhancing the immune system to recognize
and destroy cancer cells.
T-cells are part
of the normal immune system and have the ability to recognize cancer
cells, which is why the team believes they can be used to treat
patients.
T-cells are part of the normal immune system and have the ability to
recognize cancer cells, which is why the team believes they can be used
to treat patients where chemotherapy sometimes fails.
Dr. Marie Bleakley, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 2016 HHOW Quantum Grant recipient. (Hyundai Hope on Wheels)
“Pediatric Leukemia is very often curable,” Bleakley said, “but there
are forms that are resistant to chemotherapy or become resistant, which
ultimately lead to relapse and problems for the patient.”
By finding ways to expand the T-cells that can spot cancer, expand
their numbers in the laboratory, then reintroduce them into a patient,
she hopes to be able to boost the naturally occurring effect for
patients who are resistant to chemotherapy.
“Eventually, we’d like to use more cell-based therapies and less
toxic forms of chemotherapy and radiation,” Bleakley explained, “so that
not only are we preventing relapses, but also we’re protecting from
long-term effects of the treatments.”
$1 million dollar grants also went to The Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia and Dr. Richard Aplenc, MD, PhD, MSCE, and to Dr. Duane A.
Mitchell, MD, PhD at the University of Florida.
We’d like to use more cell-based therapies and less toxic forms of chemotherapy and radiation.
, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
The final doctor to receive the HHOW Quantum grant is Dr. Loren
Walensky of The Walensky Laboratory and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in
Boston, who is exploring the mechanics that cause pediatric Acute
Myeloid Leukemia (AML) to be resistant to some treatments.
He is focused on a specific protein—p53—which can suppress tumors by
preventing cancer cells from growing and dividing too quickly, or in an
uncontrolled way, thus protecting the genome.
Dr.
Loren Walensky of The Walensky Laboratory and Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, HHOW Quantum Grant Recipient. (Hyundai Hope on Wheels)
“Protecting the genome from damage is not something that cancer cells
want,” Walensky said. “They actually want to create havoc in the
genome.”
P53 can effectively open a “death pathway” for cancer cells, but it
faces two enemies—a pair of proteins called HDM2 and HDMX. The first
tracks down and destroys p53, the second binds p53 and keeps it from
doing its cancer-killing role.
Walensky’s laboratory has been recreating the part of p53 that
interacts with the two negative regulators, and using it against the
regulators by creating what he calls a “synthetic decoy” that
effectively sends HDM2 and HDMX on a wild goose chase. They attack the
decoys, allowing p53 to escape and target cancer cells.
Like Bleakley, Walensky believes it’s an exciting time to be a cancer researcher.
“It’s absolutely an era where more and more personalized information
about what makes a cancer cell tick in an individual is coming forward,”
he said. “We can now say, ‘OK, we have the blueprint for building
agents against these potential susceptibilities.'”
He is focused on a
specific protein—p53—which can suppress tumors by preventing cancer
cells from growing and dividing too quickly.
Youth ambassadors Adams and Darby are just as excited about their
role this year in boosting the morale of kids fighting cancer. And,
along with the doctors, they have the same goal for kids with cancer.
“We want to make them feel like a regular child,” Darby said. “I’m
looking forward to seeing kids and telling them it’s going to be
alright, giving them a glimpse of hope.”
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