FINDING NEW WAYS TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST CHILDREN’S CANCER
Telethon Kids Institute Sarcoma team
In Australia, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are used for the vast majority of children undergoing treatment for cancer — techniques that are often effective but can have lifelong side effects.
Health research grant funding from The Stan Perron Charitable Foundation is helping a team of researchers at the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre search for a better way to treat childhood cancer — investigating the potential of immunotherapy, which uses the human body’s own defence mechanisms to fight the disease.
Though immunotherapy has been successfully deployed against various forms of cancer in adults, the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre is one of the few research teams in the world seeking to develop the treatment specifically for children.
Childhood cancer poses many unique challenges for researchers and physicians, as does the problem of developing treatments for very young patients whose immune systems have yet to fully develop.
There are promising signs on the horizon however, as the team led by Professor Terrance Johns explore ways to harness the power of the immune system to improve outcomes for children with cancer.
To learn more, watch the video below produced by Telethon Kids Institute that features staff and researchers from the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre explaining their search for safer and more effective treatments — treatments that will allow children to lead happier, healthy lives after recovering from cancer.
Published: 18 February 2022