MADISON- A cancer researcher from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health has been granted $250,000 over two years for his continuing study of treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma patients.
Dr. Paul Sondel, professor of pediatrics specializing in hematology oncology, is one of 22 cancer researchers in the U.S. to receive a 2015 Innovation Grant from Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). The Foundation was established in the name of Alexandra “Alex” Scott who suffered from neuroblastoma.
Sondel is studying immunotherapy, a new cancer treatment that uses the immune system to attack cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy, immunotherapy does not appear to have serious long-term side effects. The ALSF Innovation Grant will fund a specific phase of Sondel’s research.
“We use lab-generated tumor-seeking molecules to help a patient’s immune system find and destroy cancer,” said Sondel. “We discovered in a recent clinical trial that some patients have a pre-existing antibody that binds to the lab-produced molecules. We will use this grant to learn what the antibody recognizes on the molecule and how the antibody may help the lab-generated molecule work better.”
“Through our Innovation Grants, we encourage investigators to push their research forward toward breakthroughs in childhood cancers and ultimately new clinical interventions,” said Jay Scott, Alex’s dad and co-executive director of ALSF.
For more information on immunotherapy research, go to http://www.uwhealthkids.org/