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CU Cancer Center News and Stories

Pediatric Cancer

Alumni    Pediatric Cancer    Blood Cancer    Leukemia   

‘An Amazing Young Person’: A Teen’s Determination in Facing Leukemia Inspires a Bike Team in Children’s Hospital Colorado Fundraiser

A teenager’s leukemia struggle – and his mature attitude through his arduous treatment – impressed his University of Colorado Cancer Center medical team and spurred his mother to launch a foundation to raise money for cancer research. And now that struggle is providing inspiration for a cycling team as it prepares for the 2024 Courage Classic Bicycle Tour fundraiser for Children’s Hospital Colorado.


Author Mark Harden | Publish Date June 21, 2024
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Research    Pediatric Cancer

Addressing Early Death in Childhood Cancer 

Despite a significant number of advances in treatment for childhood cancers over the past few decades, around 7.5% of all children with cancer still die within one month of their diagnosis. 


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date October 16, 2023
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer

Finding New Ways to Treat Diffuse Midline Gliomas 

Cancer is a sneaky disease. Find one method of treating it successfully, and it finds another way to survive. 


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date May 22, 2023
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Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer    Pediatrics

What to Know About Pediatric Brain Cancer 

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month, which makes it a perfect time to turn the spotlight on pediatric brain cancer. Brain cancer is the second most common cancer in children, after leukemia, and brain tumors are the most common solid tumors in children and adolescents, with more than 4,000 new diagnoses each year, according to the American Cancer Society. 


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date May 08, 2023
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Kidney Cancer    Urology

Research Shows that Lymph Node Sampling During Kidney Tumor Surgery Is Safe

A longstanding approach to surgeries for children with kidney tumors has been an abundance of caution.


Author Rachel Sauer | Publish Date April 26, 2023
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Sarcoma    Radiation

Study Shows that Equivocal Scan Results Don’t Predict Higher Risk of Pediatric Cancer Relapse

For many pediatric cancer patients and their families, “scanxiety” is a very real and very scary feeling – the worry that can precede scans before treatment, and the uncertainty stemming from scans after treatment is completed.


Author Rachel Sauer | Publish Date April 05, 2023
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Bone Cancer    Data analysis

Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity Shown to Impact Pediatric Bone Cancer Outcomes

Pediatric osteosarcoma patients who are Hispanic or live in areas of high language isolation are more likely to have metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, recently publish research shows.


Author Rachel Sauer | Publish Date March 17, 2023
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Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer    Cancer    Pediatrics

New Drug Combination Might Better Treat Often Fatal Childhood Brain Tumor

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered a drug combination that might offer a better prognosis for children diagnosed with MYC amplified Medulloblastoma, an often deadly form of brain cancer. The research was conducted in collaboration with the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) University Hospital Dusseldorf.


Author Laura Kelley | Publish Date January 19, 2023
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Blood Cancer    Leukemia    Clinical Trials

St. Baldrick’s Funds CU Study of New Pediatric Leukemia Drug 

As part of its ongoing efforts to eradicate childhood cancers, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has awarded University of Colorado Cancer Center member Kelly Faulk, MD, a St. Baldrick’s Scholar grant to investigate a new method for treating infant leukemia


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date September 08, 2022
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer

CU Cancer Center Is Home to One of the Largest Groups of Pediatric Brain Tumor Researchers in the Country

Initially, the big picture looks severe: Pediatric brain tumors are now the number one cause of death for children diagnosed with cancer.

Though leukemia is four times more common in pediatric patients than brain tumors, about 90% of children diagnosed with leukemia will experience a cure “because we’ve done such a good job of researching leukemia, and treatments have come so far that cure rates have improved significantly,” says Rajeev Vibhakar, MD, PhD, MPH, a professor of pediatric hematology and oncology in the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We need to see that same level of support and advancement in finding cures for pediatric brain tumors.”


Author Rachel Sauer | Publish Date September 01, 2022
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Research    Community    Pediatric Cancer

Wheels of Justice Cycling Team Raises Money for Cancer Research and Treatment Provided by CU Cancer Center Members 

The cancer journey can be a solitary one, whether you’re a patient, a survivor, or a friend or family member of someone who died from the disease. 


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date June 06, 2022
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Research    Pediatric Cancer

How Creative Arts Therapy Helps Young Cancer Patients Through Their Treatment Journey

 As a former dancer and dance instructor, CU Cancer Center member Jennifer Raybin, PhD, knows the power the creative arts hold to help people through challenging times. As a nurse practitioner who led the Palliative Care Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado, she knows the creative arts can be especially helpful for children and young adults with cancer. Creative activities help patients deal with symptoms, improve their mood, and even ease disease and treatment symptoms like pain, nausea, and fatigue.


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date April 28, 2022
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Research    Awareness    Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer

Youngest Brain Tumor Patients Have Significantly Poorer Outcomes than Older Pediatric Patients

A University of Colorado (CU) Cancer Center researcher has found, through extensive data analysis, that the youngest patients with brain tumors – those ages birth to 3 months – have about half the five-year survival rate as children ages 1 to 19.


Author Rachel Sauer | Publish Date March 18, 2022
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Research    Community    Pediatric Cancer    Sarcoma

Research Finds a Specific Gene Is Critical for the Progression of Pediatric Rhabdomyosarcoma Tumors

In normal human development, the SIX1 gene is critical for embryonic muscle development. After a person is born and as they mature, SIX1 is downregulated, or becomes less prevalent in cells.


Author Rachel Sauer | Publish Date March 02, 2022
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Research    Breast Cancer    Pediatric Cancer    Melanoma    Funding

CU Cancer Center Members Receive Grants to Conduct High-Tech Research 

The Tumor-Host Interactions Program (THI) at the University of Colorado Cancer Center has awarded four CU Cancer Center researchers $30,000 each to gain preliminary data using the Multiplex Ion Beam Imager (MIBI) housed in the cancer center’s Human Immune Monitoring Shared Resource (HIMSR) to support a competitive national grant proposal. The selected researchers are expected to submit a national competitive grant proposal within six months of completing their THI-MIBI pilot studies.  


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date February 10, 2022
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Research    Pediatric Cancer

Using PET Scans to Better Treat Cancer Patients

One of the primary tools that oncologists use to stage cancers is the PET (positron emission tomography) scan, an imaging test that uses a small amount of radioactive sugar to detect metabolically active areas within the body.


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date November 18, 2021
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Press Releases    Pediatric Cancer    Blood Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer    Ovarian Cancer

CU Cancer Center Researchers Awarded Grants From V Foundation

Three researchers from the University of Colorado Cancer Center have received grants from the V Foundation, a cancer research nonprofit founded in 1993 by college basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, who died of cancer.


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date October 20, 2021
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Research    Pediatric Cancer

Targeting a Rare Secondary Cancer in Children

 It’s one of the most heartbreaking things Adam Green, MD, sees as a pediatric oncologist: children who beat their cancer, only to see an incurable brain tumor arise five years later.


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date September 28, 2021
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Leukemia

CU Cancer Center Member M. Eric Kohler, MD, PhD, Receives Award to Develop Immunotherapy Treatment for Pediatric Leukemia

University of Colorado Cancer Center member M. Eric Kohler, MD, PhD, was awarded a three-year, $270,650 Young Investigator Grant from CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, in partnership with the SebastianStrong Foundation, to develop a new treatment approach for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare blood cancer in children.


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date September 17, 2021
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Magazine

CU Cancer Members Recognized for Contributions to Immunotherapy in Pediatric Cancer

Three members of the University of Colorado Cancer Center and a longstanding supporter of the campus are part of a group of more than 200 researchers nationwide who were recognized in April with the Team Science Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date May 28, 2021
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Patient Care    Pediatric Cancer    Magazine

CU Cancer Center Technology Gives Kids a Welcome Distraction During Radiation Treatment

Thirty days of radiation treatments — five days a week, with Saturdays and Sundays off — are difficult for even the toughest of adults. But for a child, they’re even harder to bear. They involve fasting, waking up early, and lying in a dark room alone, without even your parents there for support.


Author Greg Glasgow | Publish Date April 21, 2021
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Research    Awareness    Pediatric Cancer    Kidney Cancer

Research supports the practice of personalized treatment to improve fertility outcomes for pediatric kidney cancer patients

Although rare, kidney cancer is the third most common type of solid tumor affecting children. Thankfully, pediatric kidney tumors are generally treatable and most have high cure rates. Treatment outcomes depend on several factors including age, tumor type, staging, genetics, the overall health of the patient, and the risk of treatment side effects.  


Author Noelle Musgrave | Publish Date April 09, 2021
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Blood Cancer    Leukemia    Magazine

CU Cancer Center Researcher and Physician Poses Double Threat to Pediatric Cancer

M. Eric Kohler’s commitment to both cancer research — particularly CAR T-cell therapy — and clinical care make him a double threat when it comes to battling pediatric blood cancer.   


Author Valerie Gleaton | Publish Date March 26, 2021
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Research    Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer

Five CU Cancer Center Researchers Receive Grants to Study Brain Tumors

Three projects from University of Colorado Cancer Center researchers have received grants from the Denver-based Michele Plachy-Rubin Fund for Pilot Grants in Brain Cancer Research. Receiving $40,000 each to fund their work around brain cancer are Sujatha Venkataraman, PhD; and the teams of Philip Reigan, PhD, and Michael Graner, PhD; and Natalie Serkova, PhD, and Nicholas Foreman, MD, MBChB.


Author Cancer Center | Publish Date March 04, 2021
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Research    Philanthropy    Awareness    Lung Cancer    Pediatric Cancer

Golfers Against Cancer Funds Three CU Cancer Center Researchers

The Denver chapter of Golfers Against Cancer this week named University of Colorado (CU) Cancer Center researchers Matthew Sikora, PhD, Jamie Studts, PhD, and Jenna Sopfe, MD, as the beneficiaries of three $50,000 grants for cancer research and clinical trials.


Author Cancer Center | Publish Date February 12, 2021
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Research    Pediatric Cancer

St. Baldrick’s Grant Aims to Better Understand Aggressive Pediatric Cancer Type

University of Colorado Cancer Center member and associate professor of Pathology Paul Jedlicka, MD, PhD, has received the St. Baldrick’s Research Grant with generous support from Marlee’s Smile. His research will focus on better understanding the mechanisms behind rhabdomyosarcoma, a common and aggressive cancer type in children. The goal of the research is to identify new approaches to interfering with disease progression.


Author Cancer Center | Publish Date July 29, 2020
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Honors    Pediatric Cancer

U.S. News Ranks Colorado Pediatric Oncology Services Ninth in the Nation

U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) released its 2020-21 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings this week. In the category of best hospitals for pediatric cancer, Children’s Hospital Colorado was ranked ninth in the country. Pediatric cancer services are provided by University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine faculty who many are members of the CU Cancer Center.


Author Cancer Center | Publish Date June 19, 2020
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Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer    Diversity

Post-diagnosis disparities drive poorer outcomes for pediatric Black and Hispanic brain cancer patients

Cancer researchers have known for years that Black and Hispanic patients have worse outcomes than their non-Hispanic White peers. At least when it comes to adults. But few studies have explored these same disparities in pediatric patients, and fewer still have looked for racial/ethnic differences in treatment outcomes in pediatric brain cancer patients.


Author Cancer Center | Publish Date March 12, 2020
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Community    Pediatric Cancer    Brain and Spinal Cancer

Baseball, Brain Tumor and Bravery: Matthew’s Story

When Matthew Murray started experiencing some double vision after school during baseball practice his mother took him to be checked out by an eye doctor. They were told not to be too concerned unless his double vision became constant. Less than two weeks later during a double-header game, Matthew’s double vision would not go away.


Author Taylor Abarca | Publish Date September 09, 2016
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CU Cancer Center In the News

Cure Today

Caring for Patients with Sarcoma is a Team Effort, Expert Says

news outletCure Today
Publish DateJuly 12, 2024

University of Colorado Cancer Center member Dr. Steven Thorpe emphasizes the collaborative nature of treating soft tissue and bone sarcomas, highlighting the multidisciplinary efforts at CU School of Medicine's Department of Orthopedics and Children’s Hospital Colorado. He underscores the goal of not only curing the disease but also preserving function through advanced surgical techniques and modern therapies, ensuring patients maintain quality of life post-treatment. Thorpe stresses the importance of long-term outcomes, tailoring treatments to support patients’ aspirations beyond their cancer journey, especially for pediatric cases.

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OncLive

The Role of mTOR/Aurora A Kinase Combination Therapy Requires Further Elucidation in Solid Tumors

news outletOncLive
Publish DateJuly 08, 2024

CU Cancer Center member S. Lindsey Davis, MD, highlighted that the combination therapy of sapanisertib and alisertib showed marginal clinical benefit for patients with advanced solid tumors, correlative analyses suggested that apoptotic response and tumor immune cell infiltrate might influence clinical outcomes. The phase 1b study's expansion cohort indicated some positive outlying responses among patients and underscore the need for further research to tailor treatments for standout patients and explore rational combinations to enhance efficacy.

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News Medical

Study shows effectiveness of treating pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy before surgery

news outletNews Medical
Publish DateJune 19, 2024

A new study led by University of Colorado Cancer Center member Marco Del Chiaro, MD, PhD, reveals that nearly 5% of pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) after pre-surgical chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. This significant finding indicates that patients with pCR have a 63% five-year survival rate, compared to 30% for those without pCR, suggesting the potential for tailored treatments to improve outcomes.

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Cancer Network

Liso-cel May Show Benefit in Earlier Therapy Lines for Lymphoma Subgroups

news outletCancer Network
Publish DateJune 14, 2024

In a conversation at the 2024 European Hematology Association Congress, CU Cancer Center member Manali Kamdar, MD, discussed potential future research on lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel; Breyanzi) for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and other lymphoma subgroups. She highlighted findings from the phase 1 TRANSCEND NHL 001 trial, noting improved efficacy and safety in patients with fewer prior therapies and non-refractory disease, suggesting liso-cel's utility in earlier treatment lines and specific lymphoma subgroups.

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