The Childhood Cancer Blog
The Childhood Cancer Blog
Fusion proteins have been identified as major drivers of many childhood cancers. Fusion proteins arise when a piece of chromosome breaks off and combines with another chromosome. Chromosomal rearrangements such as this can form new genes, fusion genes, that when expressed produce a fusion protein. Sometimes these fusion proteins lead to cancer by reprogramming activities in the cell that cause uncontrolled growth of cells.
You might be wondering, if fusion oncoproteins can lead to cancer, why can’t we simply target them with a drug? Many of the fusion oncoproteins in childhood... Read More
Alix Seif, MD, MPH, an attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and ALSF Grantee
Alix Seif, MD, MPH, an attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is two decades into her career as a leading childhood leukemia researcher, but her journey into unlocking the potential of immunotherapy was fate from the start. During her first year of oncology fellowship, her very first patient was a young baby with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia. He was waiting for new treatment ideas after frontline therapies had failed. Then, he developed an infection, one that could’ve been life-threatening. Instead... Read More
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