Pursuing New Therapies Through Research
Research is a vital aspect of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Our physicians and researchers within the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute conduct numerous clinical research studies in hopes of improving the prognosis and quality of life for patients with tumors of the bone, soft tissue and spine. Current clinical research studies focus on novel therapies such as:
- Gene therapy
- Targeted "oncolytic (cancer killing) virus" therapy
- Tumor vaccine therapy
- Radiation-targeted therapies
- Chemoprotective agents that protect healthy cells from high-dose chemotherapy
- Novel, high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue
Many of these studies were developed by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s. Others are offered at our site through national institutions such as the National Cancer Institute Pediatric Phase I Consortium and Children’s Oncology Group. Cincinnati Children’s faculty are leading members of these consortia, and we offer early access to promising new therapies, many of which we have helped to develop.
Laboratory and Clinical Research Program Highlights
Timothy P. Cripe, MD, PhD, is testing cancer-killing herpes virus vectors to treat pediatric solid tumors with gene therapy. In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first clinical trial of herpes viruses for adolescents and young adults with these cancers to be conducted at Cincinnati Children’s. Dr. Cripe also studies:
- Systemic virus and immune response for cancer that has spread to other parts of the body
- The use of viruses in combination with other molecularly targeted therapies
- The targeting of viruses to cancer stem cells
- The development of viruses armed with therapeutic transgenes (cancer-fighting genes that the virus delivers into the patient’s cells)
Sonata Jodele, MD, is working to develop better treatments for pediatric solid tumors (including Ewing’s sarcoma) that are resistant to high-dose chemotherapies. Dr. Jodele‘s clinical research focuses on the use of chemoprotection, a technique in which bone marrow cells are removed from a cancer patient and genetically modified to withstand higher doses of chemotherapy before being returned to the donor.
Stella M. Davies, MBBS, PhD, MRCP, leads an important national initiative to understand whether genetic determinants of drug metabolism may play a role in developing complications and second cancers after high-dose sarcoma therapies. This effort is based upon clinical research obtaining samples at Cincinnati Children’s and nationally.
