$50,000 RESEARCH PROJECT GRANT
CHILDREN'S CANCER INSTITUTE
On Friday 17th October, Tour de Rocks handed over a $50,000 cheque for a Research Grant for Immune Profiling and Immunotherapy for High-Risk Paediatric Sarcomas. In conjunction with Optus and Tour de Cure we are proud to be associated with this Project.
The project aims to improve the treatment of children’s high-risk sarcomas.
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Sarcomas are a group of connective tissue tumours and can arise anywhere in the body, including bone or soft tissue, and account for about 10% of childhood cancers. This exciting new therapy will stimulate the patient’s own immune system to kill cancer cells using immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Kay Endres said "It is an honour to be able to present this cheque, on behalf of everyone involved in Tour de Rocks, for this Research Project. We are hopeful that the research that this funds, will help find a cure for Childrens Cancer. Despite not being able to ride this year, due to COVID 19, the research still goes on. We won't stop until a cure is found."
David Boundy, John Sewell and Scott Fittler (who were also part of the presentation) added "This is a very special day to be part of this presentation. Our focus now turns to the 2021 Ride and continuing to raise more funds for cancer research. So, if you haven't registered yet for the 2021 ride, ACT NOW. You don't want to miss out on what will be a very special event."
Here is a bit more about Dr Rachael Terry's Research Project : Immune Profiling and Immunotherapy for High-Risk Paediatric Sarcomas.
Children with high-risk sarcomas urgently need effective and targeted treatments. Aggressive chemotherapy is often the only option and <30% of children survive. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are exciting new immunotherapies that produce remarkable responses in adult cancers. Early promising results have been seen in paediatric sarcomas; however, it is challenging to predict which patients will respond to treatment.
Recent studies indicate that ICIs are particularly effective in immune-inflamed “hot” tumours. However, there is very limited data to indicate which subsets of sarcomas are inflamed. Non-inflamed “cold” sarcomas may also benefit from ICI treatment if combined with other therapies that boost the anti-tumour immune response. However, this approach has not been explored. Here, we take advantage of our unprecedented access to a unique cohort of sarcoma patients, through our leadership of ZERO Childhood Cancer - the first personalised medicine initiative for high-risk paediatric cancers in Australia.