Newcastle team on mission to improve childhood cancer outcomes
A University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute team will endeavour to improve the outcomes of children diagnosed with high-risk cancers with support of a $591,890 Cancer Australia grant.
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and aggressive brain tumours called diffuse midline gliomas (DMG) are responsible for about 30 per cent of all childhood deaths from cancer each year.
Children diagnosed with these types of cancers who fail upfront therapies experience tragic outcomes.
Professor Matt Dun and his team, discovered both AML and DMG cancers produce huge amounts of free radicals (the byproduct of cancer cell growth), promoting further damage and contributing to the development of treatment resistance to upfront therapies.
The team will test whether silencing free radicals will increase response to therapies and improve outcomes.
The grant is one of 15 awarded through Cancer Australia’s Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS) aimed at driving innovative cancer research initiatives. The research types supported include translational research, which focuses on translating scientific discoveries into clinical applications, as well as health services research aimed at improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
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