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ISF March Luminary Dedication Event Raises Funds for Neuroblastoma and DIPG Clinical Trial In Honor of Founder

We have always dreamed of bringing research to Charlotte and now it’s happening right here at Levine Children’s.  With the opening of the Sholler Pediatric Cancer Research Lab at Levine Children’s, the newest therapies and clinical trials for kids with rare and solid tumors are being developed in our back yard.

We are excited to have the opportunity to help support the research for a pediatric cancer clinical trial targeting relapsed neuroblastoma and newly diagnosed DIPG.  The trial, the P.E.A.C.H. Protocol, will be lead by Dr. Giselle Sholler and we hope you will join us in making it happen as it’s a big one! Learn more about this childhood cancer clinical trial below.

The proceeds from our Star Light Star Bright Luminary Dedication event on March 9th will go towards funding the neuroblastoma arm of the trial in honor of ISF founder, Isabella Santos.  When you purchase a luminary dedication for ISF to light on the evening of March 9th, your purchase will go towards helping fund the P.E.A.C.H. Protocol.  Each luminary honors one brave fight and signifies hope, strength, change, and the future.  We hope you will join us by honoring someone you love who survived, who might still be fighting, or lost their life to cancer. Our goal is to raise $100,000.

Purchase your luminary dedication to help support this clinical trial.

P.E.A.C.H. PROTOCOL:  Precision mEdicine and Adoptive Cellular tHerapy for the treatment of recurrent neuroblastoma and newly diagnosed DIPG.

Hear more about this clinical trial from our Feb 4th Digital Impact Zoom with Dr. Sholler and Dr. Oesterheld.

The P.E.A.C.H. Protocol is a Phase I, multicenter study, to evaluate treating children with recurrent neuroblastoma and newly diagnosed DIPG with molecular targeted therapy in combination with an anti-cancer immunotherapy vaccine.  In addition, this trial will study the activity of the patients’ immune system and determine if it is affected by this therapy. Patient tumor cell lines and Xenograft models will be established & characterized.  These will be used for future research and evaluated for drug response.  The trial consists of two arms:  neuroblastoma or DIPG.  ISF funding will help support the advancement of the neuroblastoma arm of the clinical trial.

Despite efforts to develop novel treatment strategies, relapsing neuroblastoma and newly diagnosed DIPG continue to have poor prognoses and limited overall survival. Precision medicine and cell-based immunotherapies represent a promising treatment.

This clinical trial will evaluate treating children with recurrent neuroblastoma and newly diagnosed DIPG with molecular targeted therapy in combination with an anti-cancer immunotherapy vaccine. Targeted molecular therapy is a type of personalized medical therapy designed to treat cancer by interrupting unique molecular abnormalities that drive cancer growth.  This type of therapy will be given in combination with an immunotherapy called dendritic cell (DC) and activated T-cell infusion. The outcome is to advance precision medicine for this group of patients while learning more about the effect of patients’ immune systems and its ability to target and eliminate a cancer.  This clinical trial consists of four parts:

• Biopsy
• Standard Therapy (focal radiotherapy or chemotherapy)
• Molecular Guided Therapy (MGT)
• Immunotherapy (dendritic cell vaccine and activated T-cell infusion)

Purchase your luminary dedication to help support this clinical trial.[/av_textblock]