Neuro-oncology

•Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma (PMAs) is a type of brain cancer largely seen in children. To advance research and treatment of PMA, Kenneth Cohen, M.D., has developed registry for adults or children who have been diagnosed with PMA. Find out more about the new registry or join the PMA Registry. Hopkins pathologist Peter Burger, M.D., and colleagues were the first to identify PMA.

•Kenneth Cohen, MD, is studying the first use of arsenic given in combination with radiation therapy in children with high risk brain tumors.  This treatment is part of an overall program to develop novel therapies for children with poor prognosis brain tumors.

•A type of brain cancer largely seen in children, Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma (PMAs), was first identified by Hopkins pathologist Peter Burger, M.D., and colleagues.  To further advance research and treatment of PMA, we invite adults or children who have been diagnosed with PMA to join the new Johns Hopkins PMA Registry, a resource for patients and physicians alike supervised by Dr Cohen.

Bone Marrow Transplantation

•Our doctors pioneered the technique of bone marrow transplantation and remain leaders in improving the effectiveness and safety of the procedure. More than 3,000 bone marrow transplants have been performed at Johns Hopkins.

•Building upon the flexible immune systems of children and his ability to manage toxic side effects, Allen Chen, M.D., Ph.D., began a successful bone marrow transplant program using partially mismatched, half-matched (haploidentical) and unrelated donors to treat a wide variety of pediatric cancers.  The pediatric oncology bone marrow transplant service attracts patients from around the world.  Read about the first bone marrow transplant patient at Johns Hopkins.

Leukemia

•Research by Curt Civin, M.D., discovered genes related to ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), developed novel treatment approaches that include vaccinations, and refined how chemotherapy is used to treat it.  These studies made a dramatic change in children’s survival rates from this most common of all childhood leukemias, changing a disease from which almost no children survived to one where nearly 90 percent are cured.

•Civin also used the CD34 monoclonal antibody to isolate the elusive hematopoietic stem cell, making stem cell transplants possible. In 1992, a pediatric oncology patient at the Center was the first stem cell transplant patient. His research quickly garnered the attention of the biotechnology world and led to the treatment of thousands of patients worldwide and many other medical uses.

•Research by Alan Friedman, M.D. has greatly increased our understanding regarding how normal myeloid cell development is regulated and how leukemic oncoproteins induce transformation. For example, Dr. Friedman’s group found in 1992-3 that C/EBPa and AML1 are master regulators of granulocyte formation, in 1997 that AML1 controls both cell differentiation and proliferation, in 2002 that TEL-AML1, expressed commonly in pediatric ALL cases, induces leukemia in a mouse model, and in 2005 that C/EBPa interaction with NF-kB inhibits cells death to contribute to transformation. 

•Pediatric oncology Acting Director Donald Small, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues were the first to develop molecularly-targeted drugs against FLT3. They identified the FLT3 genetic mutation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a major factor in an aggressive, treatment-resistant form of AML.