TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation awarded $100,000 to Dr. Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, for his research aimed at implementing T-cell immunotherapy for metastatic osteosarcoma and to help fund vital equipment which will be able to electroporate a large number of T-cells in one setting.
“Dr. Cooper’s research is very promising,” said Joy Cruse, co-founder of the TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation, headquartered in Dallas. “This is the first significant advance for metastatic osteosarcoma in two decades. Dr. Cooper’s innovative work focuses on immunotherapy which kills cancer cells by boosting a patient’s own immune attack. TeamConnor is proud to support effective therapies that present less side effects and trauma for pediatric cancer patients. Our ultimate goal is to find cures for all childhood cancers.”
Dr. Cooper joined M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2006 and currently leads the Pediatric Cell Therapy service. In addition to caring for children, adolescents and young adults undergoing hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT), he runs a laboratory translating immunology into clinical practice. His program has multiple investigator-initiated trials that infuse T-cells and NK (natural killer) cells to target malignancies. The adoptive transfer of lymphocytes represents the future of HSCT as he and other investigators enhance the potency of the immune system to eliminate residual cancers. T-cells are the main immune cells that a human body relies on for detecting and destroying abnormal cells. Dr. Cooper and his team of researchers have developed a new immunotherapy that can modify the T-cells collected from a cancer patient to enable them to “see” the tumor cells and attack them. More on Dr. Cooper and his research is online at http://faculty.mdanderson.org/Laurence_Cooper/
TeamConnor also provided a $100,000 grant to Dr. Nai-Kong V. Cheung, M.D., Ph.D., at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, to fund the final phase of drug development on a bi-specific T-Cell engaging antibody therapy targeting neuroblastoma. This grant will allow Dr. Cheung and his team to begin study initiation by using the drug on patients for the first time, bridging the gap between lab and the patient. Last year, TeamConnor awarded Dr. Cheung a $75,000 grant. TeamConnor has committed to fund this project from beginning to end. More on Dr. Cheung at http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctor/nai-kong-cheung
Dr. Ernesto Flores at the University of California San Francisco – San Benioff Children’s Hospital also recently received a $25,000 grant from TeamConnor to partially fund his research on integrated genetic and biochemical characterization of hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia. According to a ranking by U.S. News & World Report, UCSF San Benioff Children’s Hospital is one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals. More on Dr. Flores’ work can be found at http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/news/2009/09/new_strategy_for_understanding_drug_resistance_in_leukemia.html
Every year, more than 12,400 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of children, yet the budget of the National Cancer Institute allocates only 3% of its funds to pediatric cancer research. The TeamConnor Childhood Cancer Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness and funding research and treatment programs to find a cure for all childhood cancers.
For more information, visit teamconnor.org or find TeamConnor Cancer Foundation on Facebook.
By David Alvey.
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