Scientists backed by LPT hope to develop and find new treatments

The Little Princess Trust is proud to announce EIGHT new research projects aiming to give hope to children and young people with cancer.

With a focus on creating more treatment options for children with cancer, the projects cover a range of cancers from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia to diffuse midline glioma.

Professor Majlinda Lako is a first-time LPT-funded researcher. She is also leading the first project we have funded into retinoblastoma, a common type of childhood eye cancer.

After looking into the genetics of retinoblastoma cells, Majlinda’s team identified medicines that could stop healthy cells from turning cancerous. In this project, they will assess whether these drugs could be used as a new treatment for retinoblastoma.

Talking about what it means to have received this funding, Majlinda said: “With this funding we hope to move from our initial idea to new treatment for this rare disease that affects young children.

“We are truly excited to work with the Little Princess Trust to develop brand-new treatments that can be further tested in clinical trials.”

Another researcher receiving funding from The Little Princess Trust for the first time is Dr Frederik van Delft. Frederik is working to make accessing a new treatment option easier and more cost effective.

The new treatment, called Dasatinib, works alongside normal chemotherapy to overcome steroid resistance. Currently it is complicated to test whether a child could benefit from using Dasatinib.

Frederik said: “This project aims to modify an existing laboratory test to be able to pinpoint patients that are likely to respond to dasatinib.

“The improved test will make it easier to study the drug and how it works in an upcoming clinical trial.

“We hope this research will allow us to develop new ways to treat and improve outcomes for patients with relapsed T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.”

From haircuts to bike rides, we want to thank all of our fantastic supporters who have made this research possible. You are helping to give children with cancer hope for a better future.

The eight projects funded by The Little Princess Trust

• Identifying new drugs for the treatment of retinoblastoma with Professor Majlinda Lako, Newcastle University - £199,902.
• Stopping treatment resistance in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with Dr Frederik van Delft, Newcastle University - £211,424.
  
  
• The Nephrogreen study – can dye help surgeons remove kidney tumours? with Mr Max Pachl, Birmingham Children's Hospital - £53,277.
  
  
• Repurposing existing medicines to treat incurable childhood brain tumours with Dr David Michod, University College London - £200,980.
  
  
• Blocking processes which keep leukaemia cells alive with Professor Owen Williams, University College London - £197,112.86
  
  
• Blocking chemical reactions which keep ependymoma cells alive with Dr Ruman Rahman, University of Nottingham - £196,492.
  
  
• Testing existing drugs in new combinations for high-risk neuroblastoma with Dr Karim Malik, University of Bristol - £209,363.
  
  
• Blood tests to monitor rhabdomyosarcoma treatment with Professor Janet Shipley, The Institute of Cancer Research - £210,885.