Taking a Shot at a Cure for Cancer

The year is 2019. A 9-year-old boy is complaining of headaches and begins to vomit and become lethargic. His parents think he probably has the flu. After several days on flu medication, he doesn’t appear to be improving. They take him to his pediatrician who recommends an MRI. The test shows their worst nightmare: Their son has a brain tumor called medulloblastoma.

The treatment is an injection. And within a short period of time, the tumor is gone.

What sounds like science fiction could become science fact if Michael Lawman, Ph.D., Director of Basic Research in the St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Pediatric Hematology/Oncology department, has anything to do with it. St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital has just been approved for a U.S. patent, “Modulating Cancer Cell Characteristics,” submitted on behalf of the hospital by Dr. Lawman and Selena Braccili, a former researcher.

“I’m shocked,” said Dr. Lawman. “It usually takes much longer for a patent to be approved.” He should know — he has received 30 patents for his research. “This will allow us to protect the technology should we take it to a pharmaceutical company. The patent belongs to the hospital.”

Pediatric brain tumors are the third most frequent cancer in children — and the most deadly. Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric tumor of the cerebellum. Dr. Lawman’s research involves RNA interference (RNAi), a system within living cells that helps to control which genes are active and how active they are. RNAi plays an important role in defending the body’s own cells against infectious diseases such as viruses.

Using a technology called gene silencing, target genes can be suppressed in a particular pathway. The function of that gene can then be studied at the cellular level. Dr. Lawman discovered that silencing a particular gene in medulloblastoma cells altered the growth rate and characteristics of these tumor cells.

His research group has been working with other U.S. scientists in the nanotechnology field to develop methods to target the delivery of these RNAi molecules to specific sites in the body, such as the brain.

According to Dr. Lawman, the goal is to inject the RNAi particles into the brain and shut down tumor growth — ultimately curing a child’s brain tumor with a shot. The completion of the research, funded by a $70,000 donation from Hyundai’s “Hope on Wheels” campaign and prior to that by the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, is 10 to 15 years away.

Dr. Lawman’s research could just be the shot in the arm — or brain — that a cure for cancer needs.