I Care I Cure teams up with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation to award grant to researcher at University of Wisconsin

Mario Otto, M.D, Ph.D. wins award from childhood cancer nonprofits

PHILADELPHIA, PA (March 2013)  – Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF) and the I Care I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation are teaming up to award a grant to Mario Otto, M.D., Ph.D of the University of Wisconsin for his work examining neuroblastoma. Otto will receive a Young Investigator Award ($100,000).

Alex’s Lemonade Stand and the I Care I Cure Foundation share a vision of finding better treatments and ultimately cures for all childhood cancers. Dating back to 2009, the Foundations have been collaborating to co-fund research grants. I Care I Cure supports the development of, and raises public awareness about, cutting-edge, targeted therapies for childhood cancer, so that the treatment of childhood cancer will be gentler and more tolerable. After reviewing Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s grantees annually, I Care I Cure identifies researchers whose progress toward improving the treatment of childhood cancers merit its support.

Dr. Otto’s Young Investigator Grant, which is designed to fill the critical need for start up funds for less experienced researchers to pursue promising research ideas, will work toward identifying more targeted treatments for neuroblastoma to lessen the long-term side effects of highly toxic treatments. More specifically, Otto and his team will look at the small molecule NM404 to perform pre-clinical tests to find out if NM404 can kill neuroblastoma or other forms of childhood cancer and to evaluate if this compound could be a new, potent treatment drug.

“It is an honor to be working alongside I Care I Cure toward a common goal of curing childhood cancer, and doing that in a manner that preserves the quality of life for children long-term” said Jay Scott, Alex’s father. “Having a child who fought cancer for nearly her entire life, we saw firsthand the impact of treatment on a young child. We hope that through this collaboration we can move closer to cures, and do so with safer, less-toxic treatments.”

“I Care I Cure is likewise honored to collaborate with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and appreciates ALSF’s support of our mission,” says Beth Besner, the mother of Ian Besner in whose memory I Care I Cure was established. “Having lost our son to the side effects of toxic cancer treatments, we believe so strongly that gentler treatments will save lives and make long-term survival more tolerable for children who have battled cancer.”

In addition to the project of Dr. Otto, three other awards will be given collaboratively as part of the ALSF and I Care I Cure partnership. The recipients are Dr. David Pellman and Julia Etchin of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Dr. Sarah Tasian of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Research funded by ALSF has been featured in The New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Molecular Therapy, AACR Journal, Oncogene, Nature and more.

For more information on the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation grant programs, visit

www.ALSFgrants.org

 

I Care I Cure & Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation 2013 Grant

Recipient Lay Summary

Mario Otto, M.D., Ph.D., The University of Wisconsin

Development of An Innovative Treatment Strategy for Neuroblastoma and Other Pediatric Tumors: A Novel Phospholipid Ester Analogue and its Multifunctional Cancer-targeting Nanoconstruct

Neuroblastoma is one of the most common forms of cancer in childhood, and approximately 700 young children are diagnosed with this tumor each year in the United States alone. The disease is very aggressive, and despite various forms of treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, more than one third of all patients with advanced-stage disease will eventually die. The patients who survive are stricken with the long-term side effects of highly toxic treatments. Thus, more targeted therapies that kill the cancer but spare healthy tissue are urgently needed.

The novel small molecule NM404 is highly selectively taken up by cancer cells but minimally affects healthy tissue. This compound is currently being evaluated in a radioactive form as an imaging agent at the University of Wisconsin. However, NM404 seems to also be able to kill cancer cells in higher doses. We will perform pre-clinical tests to find out if NM404 can kill neuroblastoma or other forms of childhood cancer and to evaluate if this compound could be a new, potent treatment drug.  In the second part of our proposal we will use NM404 to guide nano-sized particles to cancer cells. Nanoparticles are programmed to attack and destroy cancer cells. This relatively new area of science is called cancer nanotechnology. We believe that combining NM404 with cancer nanotechnology has the potential to lead to a new, powerful, multifunctional drug compound capable to significantly improve the survival for neuroblastoma and other childhood cancer patients.

 

About Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation:

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra “Alex” Scott (1996-2004). At the age of 4, Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of volunteers across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. To date, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised more than $60 million toward fulfilling Alex’s dream of finding a cure, funding over 275 research projects nationally including those examining leukemia, brain tumors, neuroblastoma, Wilm’s tumor, lymphoma, and osteosarcoma among others.

 

About I Care I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation:

I Care I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation (ICIC) was founded by Beth and Brad Besner in loving memory of their son Ian, who died from complications related to the treatments for leukemia.  Having had to witness their child suffer, the Besners wanted to spare other children and their parents that agony.  ICIC is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit Foundation whose mission is to raise funds for, and  public awareness about, cutting edge targeted cancer treatment for childhood cancer.  With targeted medications, the treatment of childhood cancer will be gentler and more tolerable for children and their families.