Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Mentor Name: Zachary Reitman

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) represent a diverse and complex group of cancers that disproportionately affect pediatric and adolescent patients. With more than 80 different subtypes already, the list continues to expand as sequencing-based diagnostic assays become more readily available. CIC::DUX4 sarcoma is a new STS entity characterized by a novel gene fusion between CIC and DUX4. Due to the aggressive nature of the disease and the high rate of chemo-resistance, prognosis is exceptionally poor with less than half of all patients surviving beyond 5 years.

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is a soft tissue cancer with features of skeletal muscle, and the most common soft tissue connective cancer of childhood. While the medical community has made great strides in improving care and cure for children with ERMS, there remains a group of children with high-risk disease who only survive their cancer about one third of the time. To develop new treatments for these children, it is important to understand what mutations their ERMS tumors carry.

Mentor Name: Michael Deel

Mentor: Corinne Linardic