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Dr Tim Cripe and co-hosts Dr Maureen O’Brien and Dr Raj Nagarajan interview a pediatric hematology/oncology legend, Dr. Beatrice Lampkin, who served as Division Director of Cincinnati Children’s Division of Hematology/Oncology in the 1970’s. This enlightening and inspiring discussion explores her career and her early contributions to leukemia therapy and the challenges she faced as an early leader in the field as a female. She describes her experience with polio, early paralysis from the neck down, crutches for mobility, and later, her confinement to a wheelchair. Revealing another era in communications with parents and patients in the 1960s and 1970s, she explains how parents were advised to used the term “anemia” to describe their child’s condition rather than “leukemia” to to explain why the child would require periodic blood transfusions, and to prevent shunning by friends and family. Dr Lampkin also describes her joy at following the earliest survivors of pediatric cancer she treated who are now in their 40s and 50s.

As if all that isn’t inspiring enough, she describes her busy retirement in which she continues to teach the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital fellows how to examine blood and bone marrow smears under the microscope and her work in the founding of the GLAD House (http://www.gladhouse.org/), a sanctuary to help drug-addicted youth get off the streets.

Please send all comments and questions to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org.

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In this enlightening interview with Dr Kate Matthay, a reknown leader in the neuroblastoma research community, host Dr Tim Cripe draws out the inspiration for her early interest in medicine and why her career grew with a focus on neuroblastoma. Dr Matthay explains the history and challenges of clinical research for neuroblastoma:

10:00 challenges in planning and conducting the CCG-3891 double randomized trial questioning the need for transplant and cis-retinoic acid

15:00 discussion of the COG-A3973 trial questioning the need for purged stem cells

15:50 rationale for the COG-ANBL0532 single versus tandem transplant trial

16:13 discussion of the COG-ANBL0032 ch14.18 with cytokines trial

18:00 MIBG COG pilot trial

22:00 work with SIOP and NB protocol development for children in Morocco (N Africa)

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TWiPO Episode 14

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Top neuroblastoma researcher discusses career, advances in research

“This Week in Pediatric Oncology” podcast host Dr Tim Cripe interviewed Dr Robert Seeger from CHLA (Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles) about his contributions to improvements in treating neuroblastoma as well as his vision for future advances.

Dr Seeger’s career has been remarkable in that he began with an interest in immunotherapy and neuroblastoma as an intriguing model for this approach, and has consequently been involved in every major advance in treating neuroblastoma, including the pivotal 1984 discovery of the first-ever amplification of an oncogene for any cancer – MYCN and the 1985 demonstration that MCYN could be used to predict survival. Authoring over 180 publications, Dr Seeger has made a significant contribution to every step toward developing better therapies for neuroblastoma, including induction therapy, myeloablative therapy, immunotherapy with anti-GD2 antibody and cytokines, maintenance therapy with retinoids, and most recently, work in tumor microenvironment and developing reproducible biomarkers for detecting minimal residual disease. At the beginning of Dr Seeger’s career, survival for high-risk neuroblastoma was abysmal at about 5%, and now survival is about 45%. Dr Seeger has been a leader in the NANT consortium (New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy) and involved in planning the early phase clinical trials conducted by this 15-member consortium.

When questioned about current challenges in his research, Dr Seeger mentioned the increased regulatory burdens associated with developing new treatments, and also discussed the need for preclinical (mouse) models that are predictive and well-validated. Dr Seeger believes that improvements can be made in functional imaging, including developing pharmacodynamic markers to detect impact of therapy on tumor.

Dr Seeger is Professor and Division Head for Basic and Translational Research at Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles/USC School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. His research interests are neuroblastoma risk assessment by gene expression profiling at diagnosis; evaluating response to treatment by quantifying rare neuroblastoma cells in blood and bone marrow; immunotherapy of neuroblastoma (natural killer cells, anti-tumor antibodies, tumor associated macrophages). Dr Seeger is a reviewer for several high-impact oncology journals, and is a member of the COG NB steering committee. He earned his MD at Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine in Portland and completed pediatric internship and residency at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. Additionally, Dr Seeger obtained research fellowship training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the ICRF Tumor Immunology Unit at University College London, UK.

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Chair of Children’s Oncology Group (COG) discusses career, drug development

Host Dr Tim Cripe of  ”This Week in Pediatric Oncology” podcast interviews Dr Peter Adamson, new COG Chair. Co-hosts for this episode are Dr Jim Geller, Dr Raj Nagarajan, and Dr Lionel Chow. This conversation includes Dr Adamson’s background and interest in pediatric oncology, and openly addresses the much-needed advances in drug development for pediatric tumors that are distinct from adult tumors.  On the heels of the remarkable ch14.18 development story in neuroblastoma, Dr Adamson explains the need for a “virtual” drug company that consists of a public-private partnership to develop drugs in a similar narrow venue, which is underway.

Reference:

Making Better Drugs for Children with Cancer. Institute of Medicine Consensus Report. Peter C. Adamson, Susan L. Weiner, Joseph V. Simone, and Hellen Gelband, Editors. April 18, 2005

Background:

Dr Adamson was elected by principal investigators of more than 200 Children’s Oncology Group sites. COG includes more than 5,000 experts in childhood cancer at leading children’s hospitals, universities and cancer centers across North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

In 1999 Dr. Adamson came to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and is the director of Clinical and Translational Research and chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Children’s Hospital. He also is a professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He remains on the staff of Children’s Hospital and on the Penn faculty while serving as Children’s Oncology Group chair.

Dr. Adamson’s previous roles at COG include leading the 21-site phase 1 consortium. During the eight years that Dr. Adamson led this effort, the collaborating sites conducted more than 25 studies designed to test the safety of novel anticancer drugs.

Says Dr Adamson, “I hope to fully leverage the emerging discoveries being made at a rapid pace by transforming how research moves from the bench to the bedside in a very large collaboration.”

Dr. Adamson received his MD from Cornell University and completed his residency at CHOP in 1987. He then spent 10 years at the NCI where he finished his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Biotechnology, and worked as an investigator and an attending physicians before coming to CHOP.

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Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC) moves to Grand Rapids, Michigan May 2, 2011

Dr Sholler completed medical school at New York Medical College, in Valhalla, NY. She was a resident in pediatrics and a fellow in pediatric hematology/oncology at Brown University before moving to the University of Vermont in 2005. Her research focuses on new therapies for neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma.

She describes her transition to new her position at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) in an interview at AACR:

1.  Would you describe your new role at VARI, and continuing responsibilities at the University of Vermont and the NCI?

I will be Pediatric Oncologist, Spectrum Health Medical Group, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Directing the Pediatric Oncology Therapeutic Discovery Clinic, focusing on NB and MB patients enrolling on our NMTRC trials and profiling all patients diagnosed with cancer and all relapses; Co-Director of the VARI/TGen Pediatric Oncology Research Program; and Associate Professor of the Neuroblastoma Translational Research Laboratory at Van Andel Research Institute. I will have a faculty appointment within Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine.  I will continue as adjunct faculty at University of Vermont to continue key collaborations studying genomic profiles in neuroblastoma patients (with Jeff Bond) and work in Phage-display creating individualized antibodies (with David Krag).  I will continue as a Guest Researcher in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the NCI where we will open the molecularly-guided protocol and I will be seeing NB patients in clinic monthly.

2.  How will this move enhance your goals for your research?
The Van Andel Research Institute is providing significant support and infrastructure to our research and consortium with a 5 year commitment.  The resources and collaboration at the Van Andel (with Craig Webb) and NCI (with Javed Khan and Melinda Merchant) has allowed this research to move forward, especially in the area of molecularly-guided therapy. I am thankful to have such a great team around us and this move will allow the research to flourish at an even faster rate.  Our goal are to bring understanding to each patients tumor and direct therapies to them as well as making promising new drugs available to kids with NB and MB.

3. During your time in Vermont, much has been accomplished. What is the most satisfying to you?
During my time in Vermont I have seen the creation of a new consortium  and the  bringing together of families and researchers for a common goal. It has been incredible to be a part of this evolving from nothing and out of many people caring about these children.  I am most satisfied to have been able to help many children in bringing them new therapies, I know that from this we will be able to improve the lives of kids with neuroblastoma.

4.  How will your move to VARI affect the operations of the NMTRC?
The Van Andel will now be the lead administrative site for the NMRTC, providing us with significant infrastructure which was minimal before and supported by family foundations. Now that money can go directly to supporting new research and trials. Dr. Jeff Trent, President and Research Director fo the Van Andel Research Instittue and TGen is devoted to making a difference in pediatric cancer and with his support and guidance I am excited about the possibilities of what we can do.

5.  Could you provide an update on the personalized medicine program you initiated?
We have completed our pilot study of molecularly-guided therapeutics showing it is possible in real-time to perform a biopsy, run a gene chip, analyze this using computer algorithms, hold a national tumor board to discuss the patient and create individual treatment plans in less than 2 weeks. We now have FDA approval for  a treatment study and IRB approval at 5 centers (DeVos Children’s Hospital, NCI, St. Louis Univeristy, Levine Children’s, and MDAnderson Orlando) and will be opening this trial in May 2011 when I arrive at the Van Andel.

Symposium for parents and researchers June 23 at VARI

Van Andel Research Institute and the NMTRC welcome all parents, foundations, scientists, and on physicians to attend the third symposium for progress and project updates on June 23rd, 2011 and more details will be forthcoming on the NMTRC site.

Poster presentation by Dr Sholler and colleagues at AACR 2011:

A pilot trial testing the feasibility of using molecular-guided therapy in patients with refractory or recurrent neuroblastoma