A multidisciplinary team at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is developing new treatments for young children with brain tumors. One promising approach is to deliver the patient’s own natural killer (NK) cells to the tumor. These immune cells can be removed from the patient’s blood, multiplied 2,000-fold in the laboratory and infused back into the patient at the site of the tumor, where the NK cells unleash an immune assault on the cancer. Because this treatment uses the patient’s own cells, it may have few side effects, making it an attractive therapy. MD Anderson has already started testing the safety of these expanded NK cells administered to children with relapsed brain tumors using a special catheter implanted in the fourth ventricle. Now, they want to expand the study by including children with high-risk tumors and delivering the NK cells through the standard lateral ventricle catheters. With your support, this research will allow more children to participate in the study and receive the hope and help offered by MD Anderson’s brain tumor treatment team.
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Jennifer Dolman,
Director of Philanthropic Resource
jdolman@mdanderson.org
713-563-9305