Future Research

CureSearch believes that what once seemed an impossible dream – curing childhood cancer – has become a goal that is achievable in our lifetime.

In addition to finding cures, research is aimed at reducing therapy for lower risk patients, to lessen the side effects, both during treatment and later in life.

Goals for the next five years

• Increase the overall childhood cancer survival rate to 85% by 2008.
• Reduce deaths from childhood cancer by 20%.
• Focus on the types of childhood cancer most difficult to cure.
• Escalate research to develop treatments which cure the child while causing the least possible side effects and long-term effects.
• Link biology and laboratory investigations to clinical trials, to better identify new options for improved and less toxic therapy.
• Evaluate short-term and long-term consequences of cancer and anti-cancer therapy in patients who are cured, to improve the quality of life during and after treatment.

The Scientific Plan

The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) conducts its work by following a peer-reviewed and approved 5-year Scientific Plan. This 3300-page document outlines, in detail, the group’s planned clinical trials, laboratory studies, and the translational research which links laboratory discoveries directly to patient care.

Here are two examples of the many promising areas of research:

• To learn what happens that causes normal cells to turn into cancer cells, one type of laboratory study is called a “gene expression array.” Using special techniques, researchers can identify those genes that are active in the cancer cells, but not in the normal cells. This allows them to focus attention on those genes to discover their role in causing cancer. Special drugs, called biologic agents, can then be developed to target those specific genes.
• Laboratory investigators also study the cells to see what proteins are made by the cancer cells but not by normal cells. When they identify specific proteins, they can work to make special agents called antibodies that attack the proteins and make them inactive. These biologic agents must be carefully tested before being used to treat patients. The focus for use of these agents is primarily the more high-risk cancers.

Resources

CureSearch COG brings a number of unique and sophisticated tools to its work, including:

• Tumor banks where cells and tissues are preserved and catalogued for group-wide use in future studies.
• A repository of continuously growing cell lines from primary tumors.
• A Central Micro array Core – gene expression profiles linked to the rich COG clinical database.
• Signal Transduction Studies. An estimated 10% of all genes are involved in signal transduction (pathways that are turned on or off in tumor cells). The COG is working to evaluate and confirm activation of specific pathways in a broad range of childhood tumors.