Over the past 40 years, cooperative research efforts (primarily through the Children’s Oncology Group) have improved outcomes for several different types of pediatric cancers, emphasizing the fact that research and participation in clinical trials can make a difference in treating this most common cause of death from disease in childhood.

Nevertheless, much work remains to be done, especially for certain types of cancers which have spread at the time of diagnosis or have come back after completing standard therapy. Ongoing research in the laboratory and in the clinic is still needed to find more effective and less toxic therapies for many types of childhood malignancies.

Duke pediatric cancer physicians and scientists have a strong history of involvement in clinical and laboratory research and have contributed to cutting-edge advances in understanding and treating pediatric tumors.  The pediatric cancer team works with DCI disease-based programs to treat children with brain tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, and a wide variety of solid tumors such as sarcoma and neuroblastoma. The pediatric cancer program includes:

• Basic investigators who are interested in understanding childhood cancers. They use approaches that range from genomics to animal models to preclinical testing. They are committed to helping further the understanding of tumors and developing new therapies.
• Clinicians who treat children with cancer. They incorporate findings from the lab into the design and performance of clinical trials testing novel agents and combinations.

Members of the pediatric cancer team are nationally recognized for their study of the pathogenesis of and participate in cutting-edge clinical trials focused on treating pediatric malignancies including:

• Pediatric brain tumors
• Neuroblastoma
• Osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma and Rhabdomyosarcoma