Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Mentor Name: Leonard Zon

Choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC) is a rare, aggressive brain cancer arising from the choroid plexus (ChP), a highly complex tissue within the brain's ventricles that produces cerebrospinal fluid. CPC is most often diagnosed in young children, and the only hope for survival is usually total removal of the tumor through surgery. However, this surgery is often complicated due to large tumor size at diagnosis, tumor invasion of nearby brain tissue, and complicated networks of blood vessels in CPC that bleed significantly in the operating room.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in children and a major cause of death from disease in this age group. Despite the possibility of a cure, ALL treatments can lead to significant health problems later on. Early detection and understanding of ALL could greatly reduce the impact of cancer in children. Many genetic factors have been identified that increase the risk of developing a specific type of ALL called B-cell ALL, but how these factors contribute to the disease is still not fully understood.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second most common childhood leukemia but is reaching acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as the leading cause of childhood leukemic mortality, primarily because of ineffective prognostic schemas and the absence of targeted therapies. While there have been significant advancements in supportive care and targeted treatments, AML shows a worse long-term prognosis across all groups when compared to other acute leukemias.