Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Half of all neuroblastoma patients are diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma. Even with the recent addition of immunotherapy, which has been proven to help, only ~ 50% of children with high-risk disease are cured. Laboratory studies have identified three characteristics that make high-risk-neuroblastoma harder to cure using the current clinical regimen of chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and immunotherapy.

Background

Despite advances in pediatric oncology treatments and technology, some children with cancer may die while receiving oncology treatments or from their disease. It has been reported that many children who die a cancer-related death may die while experiencing two to eight poorly controlled symptoms. Prevention of suffering, including effective symptom management, in children dying of cancer is a central value for clinicians in pediatric oncology.

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.