November 9, 2011 Contact: John Ascenzi, Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia, 267-426-6055 or email@example.com By studying
tumor biology at the molecular level, researchers are gaining a
deeper understanding of drug resistance — and how to avoid it by
designing pediatric cancer treatments tailored to specific
mutations in a child’s DNA. In a fruitful collaboration,
pediatric oncologists and biochemists are targeting
neuroblastoma, an often-deadly childhood cancer of the
peripheral nervous system. “This scientific study allows us to
move ahead in improving drug treatments for children with a
particular form of neuroblastoma,” said study co-leader Yaël P.
Mossé, MD, a pediatric oncologist at The Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia. Mossé teamed up in this research with the study
co-leader, Mark A. Lemmon, PhD, professor and chair of
Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine
of the University of Pennsylvania. “This has been a terrific
collaboration,” said Lemmon. “We have been working for a