Our Initiatives
An ESUN Article
Cancer Vaccine Study at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
September 2005: The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative donated $50,000 to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support a vaccine study for clear cell sarcoma (CCS), alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), and pediatric melanoma. Dr. John Goldberg and Dr. David Fisher are co-directing this study.
The vaccine trial for CCS, ASPS and pediatric melanoma should become fully activated and available for patients in the next 4-6 weeks. Patients who are eligible for the study and who consent for the trial will undergo an operation in Boston to remove their own tumor tissue, from which the vaccine will be made. The tumor will be brought to a special laboratory and have a gene for GM-CSF, a powerful cytokine that stimulates the immune system, added to the individual tumor cells. The tumor cells will then be irradiated so that they can never grow again and tested to make sure they make GM-CSF. The cells will then be frozen for safe keeping while the patient recovers from surgery. If this process works correctly, the vaccine cells will then be given back to the patient in weekly and then bi-weekly injections over the course of several months.
For additional information, see the news story at Dana Farber or this press release.
Team Sarcoma 2006 Danish Bike Tour: REGISTER NOW
This is an internationally coordinated event to raise public awareness of sarcoma. On July 1, 2006, the cyclists forming Team Sarcoma 2006 will begin a bike tour in Denmark that will bike from the Danish peninsula to the Danish islands of Fyn, Tåsinge, and Møn and end in Copenhagen on July 7th. The event is targeted at drawing 100 cyclists from countries all over the world―including sarcoma patients, caregivers, physicians, friends, those concerned about sarcoma, and bicyclists in general. We are recruiting about 15 volunteers a day to help out with the sag wagons, water stops, and so on. We anticipate cyclists from many countries as sarcoma knows no borders.
The 100 cyclists that make up Team Sarcoma 2006 in Denmark will be joined by cyclists, runners, walkers and swimmers who will bike, run, walk or swim where they live on the very same days that Team Sarcoma 2006 is biking in Denmark. These people will reside in countries from around the globe and form local Virtual Team Sarcomas in their home countries. We expect to have several hundred people involved in the various Virtual Team Sarcomas in a dozen or more countries worldwide. The Virtual Team Sarcomas will hand out material describing sarcoma to people they encounter
Team Sarcoma 2006 is an internationally coordinated event involving hundreds of people, worldwide. Think of it as an "International Bike, Run, Walk, and Swim for Sarcoma Awareness". The press and TV coverage of this effort that is being put into place will help make tens of thousands of people aware of this devastating and deadly cancer. Such awareness can, in the short term, potentially affect the lives of thousands of families and can aid in directing money toward research to find methods to diagnose and cure this disease.
Music CD, The Circle, to Benefit Sarcoma Research:
On Sale Now
Singer songwriter Ron Martin is a multi-instrumentalist from North Carolina. He is sharing the proceeds from the sale of his CD, The Circle, with the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative to help fund sarcoma awareness and research. You can purchase a copy of The Circle on the Flyin’ Clouds Records website by clicking here.
V2N5 ESUN Copyright © 2005 Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative.