Pediatric Grand Rounds: COG Chair, Dr. Peter Adamson

Dr. Adamson will be giving the Robert C. Neerhout MD lecture on Thursday Nov 3 at 8am in the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Vey Auditorium (11th floor).  His lecture will be entitled, "Childhood Cancer Research: 21st Century Science, 20th Century Clinical Trials."
  
for a stream of the archived lecture, click here.  

Patient access to their own research data?

" Key objectives: Enable patients to obtain their own data back from samples they donate to trials "
  
For more about the Portable Legal Consent Project at Sage Bionetworks, click here.  


update 3/22/2012:  "DNA donor rights affirmed"... see what an NIH working group now says about patients' right to know on incidental findings.  

Dr. Abraham presents at DIPG Conference (NIH)

Last week PCB senior scientist, Dr. Jinu Abraham, presented his invited talk entitled, "Rapid Preclinical development of targeted therapy combination for DIPG" at the DIPG Consensus Conference, which was held October 6-7^th at NIH's Bethesda campus.  A subject of the conference was determining the role of biopsy in the standard of care for this form of brainstem high grade glioma.  Noted to be equally important, however, is the search for a combination of targeted agents that makes this tumor a uniformly survivable condition.  
  

Hemophilia Program Fundraiser

This fundraising event is in cooperation with the Hemophilia Foundation of Oregon and all proceeds are shared.  Funds generated from this event are typically used for program research efforts. 

Please join us on October 16^th.  Admission is $150 per person.  Please also share this invitation with anyone you think might be interested in attending and supporting the Hemophilia Center and the Hemophilia Foundation of Oregon.  RSVP to 503-209-7539 or marita@hemophiliaoregon.org.

Pediatric Cancer Teleconferencing to Anchorage & Medford

Through the The Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2008 (3R01CA133229-4S1), the National Cancer Institute has funded purchase and installation of Video Teleconferencing equipment at two community-based pediatric practices that refer the greatest number of pediatric sarcoma and other childhood cancer patients to OHSU.  These practices are Providence Alaska Medical Center (Anchorage, AK) and Medford MD (Medford, OR).  The new equipment allows two way video conferencing but has also camera capability to use for face to face patient consultation as well. The Alaska site routinely participates in tumor board and a bi-weekly teleconference to review shared patients, and the Medford site uses this resource for general education as well as participating in tumor board and care conferences.  Since the implementation of videoconferencing this year, twelve new pediatric cancer patients from Alaska have been referred for coordinated care or consultation by the OHSU multi-disciplinary physician team.

 

Update: Legacy Gift workshop at COG

This afternoon's workshop on the value of autopsy in finding new treatments was very well received, if not at times slightly tearful in a happy way.  Oncology social worker Caroline Macuiba and PCB researcher Jen Alabran presented results of a 60 family survey of how, if ever, it would be appropriate to discuss the topic of autopsy for donating a tissue from which childhood cancers could be better understood & treated.  Interview participants were from families of children affected with sarcomas, brain tumors, or other pediatric cancers.  Two mothers, Sandy and Kim, who themselves are cancer survivors presented their families experiences with tissue donation after their sons passed away from brainstem gliomas.  Remarkable people, but what they relate is the closure and altruistic value of such gifts.  
  
This study and workshop was funded by NCI in response to the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2008 (3R01CA133229-4S1) in partnership with the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation.  This project's inspiration was the efforts of Nancy Goodman and KidsvCancer.org .  
  
For more information, visit ccurefast.org or email Jen,  alabran (at) ohsu.edu.  

COG Workshop: Overcoming Autopsy Barriers in Pediatric Cancer Research

Providing Hope For Tomorrow's Cures

  

5 pm WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2011

Roswell Room, Atlanta Conference Level, Hyatt Regency Hotel

(runs concurrently with the Children's Oncology Group Meeting)

  

Tumor samples obtained by an autopsy offer a potentially important scientific impact and creates a positive outlet to a grieving family. This workshop addresses the current barriers to obtaining an autopsy consent and provides guidelines on how to overcome these barriers at your institution.

  

Refreshments will be provided.

  

rsvp to Jen Alabran,  alabran (at) ohsu.edu


A joint venture of OHSU PCB and the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation.  For details, click here. 

Stories from the Vineyard - Portland 2011

Stories from the Vineyard is an annual fundraising event held in Portland to support patients and families living in the Pacific Northwest who are diagnosed with sarcoma.  This event is held by the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation and sponsored by NW Natural.  


Saturday, September 17
6 - 10 pm
NW Natural Headquarters
Downtown Portland


For more details, click here.  

Dr. Keller leads team that focuses on the incurable 20 percent in pediatric cancer

[ re-posted from the story in OHSU School of Medicine News by Jennifer Smith ]


08/29/11 Portland, Ore.

Charles Keller, MD, FAAP, knows what he wants. Or rather, he knows what the children and families of those with rare, incurable pediatric cancers want – effective, personalized treatment. The cure rate for childhood cancers as a group is approaching 80 percent. The Pediatric Cancer Biology (PCB) Program in the Papé Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU addresses the causes of mortality in the remaining 20 percent of children. Their work is getting noticed – just a year after joining OHSU, research by Dr. Keller and the PCB team have published 16 papers in high-impact scientific journals.


“We’re looking for the quantum leap for the diseases that can’t be cured,” said Dr. Keller, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Sada and Rebecca Tarshis Professor in Pediatric Hematology Oncology.


Hepatoblastoma is one of four diseases of priority for the PCB Program, which Dr. Keller leads; the others include sarcomas, brain stem gliomas and neuroblastoma.


“With the leading researchers we already have and the right recruiting focus, we can create the first-ever U.S. lab to study liver stem cell biology in a focused, results-driven way,” said Dr. Keller.


A number of factors led to Dr. Keller’s vision for a program with a focus on Hepatoblastoma when he joined OHSU in August 2010. He recognized the rich environment for liver stem cell research at OHSU in the Oregon Stem Cell Center, led by Center Director Markus Grompe, MD, Professor, Department of Pediatrics.


Dr. Keller also recognized the paucity of U.S. labs dedicated to such focused research. Perhaps the best known work on Hepatoblastoma, he said, is found in the lab of Dr. Marie Annick Buendia at the Pasteur Institute in Paris; other notable research is being done in Germany, Thailand, Japan and Australia.


OHSU’s growing focus on molecular-targeted therapy, in particular at the OHSU Knight Cancer Instiute, also attracted Dr. Keller. Conventional treatments – chemotherapy, surgery and radiation – are not generally effective for the most devastating childhood cancers.


The research necessary for personalized therapy requires coordinated efforts on several fronts. The Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative (PPTI), a part of the PCB Program, investigates new drugs for treating childhood cancers. The PCB Program launched the Knight-affiliated Childhood Cancer Registry for Familial and Sporadic Tumors (CCuRe-FAST), a tumor bank and registry, in May which will inform the creation of pediatric personalized cancer therapy. CCuRe-FAST is open to all pediatric cancer patients at Doernbecher and OHSU, and has successfully established 34 primary cell cultures as of mid-August.


Dr. Keller is wasting no time in assembling a team of researchers whose expertise can contribute to a productive understanding of rare childhood cancers in order to create a plan to tackle the diseases. His team comes from all types of backgrounds – he enlists biochemists, biomedical engineers, molecular biologists and electrical engineers – and focuses as much on creativity as on science. For example, they are the first National Cancer Institute affiliate to use genetically-engineered mouse models to study tumor growth and to explore treatment options.


And he’s not stopping yet. “It’s my goal to recruit two additional high caliber investigators in the next five years,” said Dr. Keller. “Two additional labs – one focusing on glioma and one on neuroblastoma biology – would move us significantly closer to finding innovative treatments for pediatric cancers.”


In February, Cancer Cell published a landmark study, in which Dr. Keller and the PCB team discovered the cell of origin for childhood muscle cancer. In March, PCB researchers, led by Jinu Abraham, PhD, identified a promising new approach to overcoming drug resistance in children with an extremely aggressive childhood muscle cancer known as alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. This study was first published online and graced the April cover of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. And as an unexpected result, their laboratory published in June in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that an antibiotic that inactivates a gene responsible for preventing eye cancer in children can actually improve muscle stem cell generation, with implications for muscular dystrophy, but not apparently putting those patients at risk for rhabdomyosarcoma.


Part of the PCB team’s research takes multi-disciplinary science to a new level – a new species, to be exact. The characteristics of osteosarcoma in canines are remarkably similar to the disease’s pattern in humans, although it is naturally occurring and 10 times more frequent in the four-legged species. Teaming up with Oregon State University veterinarian Bernard Seguin, Dr. Keller and colleagues study drug response in dogs and hope to find treatments that translate to human patients.


As a member of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, Dr. Keller works closely with other Knight researchers and supports Knight programs, such as the Knight Seminar Series, which brings experts from across the country to OHSU, with a focus on translational research.


Dr. Keller’s lab, the PCB Program and the PPTI have active blogs, which you can find on the Charles Keller Lab website. The passion and vision Dr. Keller has for his work is evident in person and online. One of his first posts after joining OHSU ended with these words: “Where there is a will, there is a way. Change can be tangible. And we are accountable.”


Pictured above: (top) Dr. Keller and the PCB team, (bottom) Dr. Abraham, Dr. Keller and Elaine Huang, MS, in the lab

Dept of Radiation Medicine - An Essential Partner in Research

The OHSU Department of Radiation Medicine is led by Chairman Dr. Charles Thomas and encumbers a strong heritage in basic and clinical cancer research.  For a list of recent visiting speakers click here or here.