Our Mission is to improve the outcome for children with Brain Tumors by supporting cutting edge clinical research while also supporting families who face this devastating diagnosis.
Brain and spinal cord tumors are the second most common cancers in children (after leukemia). They account for about 1 out of 4 childhood cancers. More than 4,000 brain and spinal cord tumors are diagnosed each year in children and teens. Brain and other nervous system cancer is the leading cause of childhood cancer death in the United States.
Treatment for children with brain tumors typically involves surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Sadly, often times these treatments come with devastating long-term consequences such as, developmental delays, permanent hearing loss, neuropathies and seizure disorders.
About 60% of all funding for drug development in adult cancers comes from pharmaceutical companies. For kids? Almost none, because childhood cancer drugs are not profitable. Childhood cancer research is consistently underfunded. Less than 4% of the federal budget for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancer.
FOUNDATION RAISES OVER $66,000 TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA
With the help of mostly individual donors, the Aiden Snyder Pediatric Brain Cancer Foundation raised over $66,000 through its virtual donor drive to support brain tumor research at CHOP. Specifically, the Foundation donor drive helped fund an immunotherapy study being conducted through the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute. The study involves the use of CAR-T technology, in which patients’ T-Cells are modified in the lab to recognize unique tumor protein targets. Because CAR-T-cells can only work when the tumor displays unique proteins not found any where else in the body, researchers must work on a system to harness the killing power of T-cells for tumors that do not express unique proteins. Researchers at CHOP are evaluating interneurons to see if these developing neurons can deliver a unique protein (known as BiTE) to brain tumors in mice. This BiTE will make the tumors appear “Foreign" to the T-cells, so that they eliminate the tumor. If successful, the technology can be used to treat various brain tumors in children.
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