Adult Cancer Therapies May Benefit Kids

CBS News Anchor Katie Couric: New, Targeted Innovations Could Ease Smallest Victims' Pain

(CBS)  Of course there were celebrity appearances at Friday's Stand Up To Cancer prime-time special, but cutting-edge cancer research will also take center stage. And two of science's biggest breakthroughs might soon benefit cancer's littlest victims.

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When 11-year-old Pearce Quesenberry began treatment for a brain tumor, losing her long, brown hair wasn't the only thing she'd have to get used to, CBS News anchor Katie Couric reports.

"Like when I was getting this in," Pearce said, pointing to a tube.

"This is called an NG tube. And it goes up my nose and down into my throat and down into my stomach," she explained.

That feeding tube has been a Godsend, because the aggressive radiation and chemotherapy makes it almost impossible for her to eat.

"So that's the nutrition you're getting?" Couric asked.

"Yes, all nutrition," she said.

In a way, it's like making a deal with the devil. Because the treatment, while it may save lives, can be really devastating to kids.

"Absolutely," said Dr. Peter Phillips of the Children's hospital of Philadelphia. "It's difficult enough going through the initial therapy. But the consequences, particularly of radiation therapy has profound effects in terms of their long-term quality of life," he said.

But children may soon reap the benefits of newer, targeted therapies that have been successful in treating other types of cancer in adults. Dr. Tom Curran of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia says science has yielded an exciting link between an adult form of skin cancer and medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children.

"The same gene that's mutated in 30 percent of medulloblastoma is mutated in 90 percent of basil cell carcinoma," Curran said.

Curran is working on a drug that specifically targets the defective gene - and turns it off.

He said it represents a new trend in cancer research.

"What we're trying to do is find the underlying cause of the cancer," he said. "And we're finding that sometimes, those underlying causes can be the same in different subsets of breast, prostate, colon and even in rare pediatric brain tumors."

Just down the hall, Dr. John Maris and his team have recently discovered the gene - called ALK - responsible for some lung cancers also causes a rare-but-deadly form of pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma.

"As pediatric ocologists, we have to be opportunistic," he said. "And it was really a stroke of luck that this gene ALK was recently found to be abnormal in types of lung cancers. So the fact that there are ALK inhibitors being developed by many pharmeceutical companies for lung cancer, gives us the opportunity to tap into that and to use those same exact drugs in children with neuroblastoma."

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Learn more about Couric's Stand Up To Cancer efforts on Couric & Co. blog.
Visit the Stand Up To Cancer site.

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And while sick children wait for science to learn what it can from adults, there's plenty we can learn from them.

"This is new; I just got it, so I didn't want to take it out," Pearce said, pointing to her nutrition-feeding tube, which would have been painful to remove.

"I don't blame you. Even to be on television, you decided to keep it in and it was a bit of a statement, wasn't it?" Couric asked.

"Yea," Pearce said.

"I'm trying to say that I don't care that I have cancer," Pearce said. "And I don't care what anybody thinks. 'cause it's just me."

[vechibless]

'' .. i had an horrible dream, i was on a sparcely traveled trail, feeling lost and cancered, and says to a small girl huvan, i''m cancered, and she says: and you want some handout or some directions to some more populated venue? if you''ve got some moments i''ll give you some forever, and if you''ve none, i''ll love you, baby, cause likes of you''ve got no place without any love, especially if you''ve got no moments, after i''d said i''d no moments, she wistled and all these kids and old folk and ill with smiles and songs appeared, i quickly fired three surgeon companys, scolded four others, made a purchace from one before scolding them for their other offerings, i then fired some nursing teams, and scolded some more before purchasing from another and then scolding them for their alternative selections, then i had me hospitalized and started firing interns and chefs and insurance adjustets .. ''

'' .. theres so many infinite numbers maps of each of infinite numbers forevers in forever that i''s often dificult to know which map; fortunately, because each is ultimately translated in minds eyes anyways, it tends to be as well and easy to find next town or cure by guessing and wishing as by bothering to solicit observations of all hearts and minds in the worlds .. ''

'' .. frog sat quietly among flowers, flys all about, the frog ate a fly, after that briefest most absolute moment of war, all was again quiet for most of the hour and the night and forever .. ''

[vechibless]

'' .. i had an horrible dream, i was on some sparcely traveled trail, feeling lost, and hungry, and i says to some small girl huvan, i''m hungry, and she says: and you want what, some handout, some directions to some more populated venue, if you''ve got some money i''ll give you some crumbs, and if you''ve no money, i''ll take your baby, cause the likes of you''ve got no place with any baby, especially if you''ve no crumbs to throw at it, and after i''d said i''d no money, she wistled and all these helicopters and tanks and thugs with guns appeared, she quickly fired three cage companys, scolded four others, made a purchace from one before scolding them for their other offerings, she then fired some arresting officet teams, and scolded some more before purchasing from another and then scolding them for their alternative selections, then she had me arrested and started firing judges and jurys and attorneys .. ''

'' .. a grain of sand is a map of forever, a book of infinite maps of each of the infinte forevers in forever, to look on sand as something as less than eternity herself is the same as to look on eternity herself as less than a grain of sand, the two are indistinguishable, except in the interpretations of the eyes and ears of hearts and minds .. ''

[erasmus81]

Chemotherapy may get rid of your cancer, but eventually that chemotherapy will be the death of you.
Depends on how old you were when you had it. If you are older, then you will probably die from something else before you die from the results of the chemo. But if you are a young adult or a child, that chemo is going to get them. Young children that have had chemo will probably start having problems in their twenties.

[sandy19731]

Demongirl60,

If you wouldn''t have dropped out of high school you would see how ridiculous your comment is.

Believe me, there will always be plenty of work for the type of people who can become doctors who treat cancer.

[jodyrae4]

I watched some of this and I think it was the democrats way of getting money again.
Use sick people. Show McCain everyone sits there..show Obama and everyone cheers..typical Hollywood B***S***....
Shouldn''t have brought politics into it if they want everyone to come together and give give give

[erb0087]

Cancer in children...

So much for "Intelligent Design."

[ictrep]

sorry -- wouldn''t have!!! fingers can''t spell!

[ictrep]

I wish they had the treatments 25 years ago that they do now -- maybe my 13 year old niece would have died of myleocytic leukemia!!! Cancer treatment has come a long way.

[drinuk]

Quackwatch is a Big Pharma sponsored misinformation site. Their advice is evil nonsense and the sooner that Lobby is blown away from Government and the FDA the better for all of us. Doctors are afraid to go against the status quo for the reason that they have invested so much in a corrupt system. Thankfully many are waking up and moving abroad to practice honestly and without fear.

Thousands of folks worldwide are being cured of cancer by simple cheap organic medicines like, Haelan 951 and Vitamin B17 but of course Big Pharma and the FDA don''t want cures, there ''aint no profit in a cure, they want to supply comfort and dependency, that''s big bucks.

[koselara]

QuackWatch has a special page specifically for families facing the fight against cancer, to help them make fact-based decisions and know who the money-hungry quacks are... It has links to pages for pretty much every claim made by "alternative" pushers: http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/altseek.html

As far as claiming *doctors* are only there to take your money, holy cow, that''s actually what the alternatypes do. *Doctors* are the ones that invest mind-blowing amounts of money in loans to be educated, go through years of grueling education (complete with 36-hour work shifts), and all but a few aren''t paid terribly well as they work in HMOs; many choose to work with poor Medicaid patients in which case they barely get paid enough to cover the bills. Read med student blogs, or even regular doctor blogs -- it''s flamingly obvious they care!

The ones only trying to part you with your money are, well, think about it. You toss on a nice shirt, give some snazzy speeches enhancing people''s fear of the medical unknown, and a few sales of special drinks later, you''d made a fortune. No investing your time or money in years of education, nope, just a few misleading comments about science and creative stories of "cures" towards those that don''t know how to tell the difference, and there you go...

[koselara]

QuackWatch has a special page specifically for families facing the fight against cancer, to help them make fact-based decisions and know who the money-hungry quacks are... It has links to pages for pretty much every claim made by "alternative" pushers: http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/altseek.html

As far as claiming *doctors* are only there to take your money, holy cow, that''s actually what the alternatypes do. *Doctors* are the ones that invest mind-blowing amounts of money in loans to be educated, go through years of grueling education (complete with 36-hour work shifts), and all but a few aren''t paid terribly well as they work in HMOs; many choose to work with poor Medicaid patients in which case they barely get paid enough to cover the bills. Read med student blogs, or even regular doctor blogs -- it''s flamingly obvious they care!

The ones only trying to part you with your money are, well, think about it. You toss on a nice shirt, give some snazzy speeches enhancing people''s fear of the medical unknown, and a few sales of special drinks later, you''ve made thousands of dollars. Did you know that "doctors" of chiropractic basically have a couple years of BUSINESS training, most of which is about how to put on the big show and has a scary ignorance about how the body works?

[breathe247]

The best cure for lung cancer? better PREVENTION, which wasn''t mentioned even once in your newspiece. Demand that your political candidates - regardless of party - have a policy to refuse Big Tobacco campaign contributions and meetings with industry lobbyists.

[kurlikew]

"Conventional" cancer treatments won''t do anything but kill people. The success rate is only 2%. Do yourselves a favor, folks - work with a holistic health counselor, naturopathic physician, or other type of alternative health care practitioner. It''s the only hope you''ve got. Conventional medicine cares only about profits - and they''ll kill you to make them.