Today was the 16th year for the DC Race for Hope. It drew over 11,000 people and raised more than 2 million dollars! The facebook page says that the count is more than 2.3 million and counting. Check out the pictures on their page. It is heartening to see the street with people filled supporting the fight against brain tumors.
One of the teams for the past several years has been David Cook. He is the Season 7 winner of American Idol. He also lost his brother to a 10 year battle with brain cancer. This week he was back on the Idol stage and specific mention was made of his passion for supporting brain tumor research. (Click here to see the video)
In it's history the DC Race for Hope has raised more than 17 million for brain tumor research. The funds go to the National Brain Tumor Society and Accelerated Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2). These foundations are fighting all brain tumors- many kinds and all ages.
Perhaps at one time pediatric brain tumors seemed to be off on their own but not anymore. To me, it definitely seems that DIPG research has matured in the past few years that it has now naturally melded into other glioma research.
I was taken by surprised when ABC2 decided not only to provide funds for the DIPG Preclinical Consortium (initiated at the first DIPG Collaborative Symposium) but also provided strategic advice "to help the research consortium preform DNA (exon) sequencing of all DIPG cell lines, their primary tumor and paired normal DNA via the laboratory of Dr Paul Spellman at OHSU.
And the National Brain Tumor Society sponsored and attended the DIPG Collaborative Symposium. Their Pediatric Research Initiative seems to be exactly what are top priorities for DIPG- molecular profiling and neuordevelopmental biology (gliomagenesis). The National Brain Tumor Society grants in 2010 funded the ground-breaking work DIPG genomic work of both Cynthia Hawkins in Toronto and Suzanne Baker of St. Jude which has reported some of the most exciting results for DIPG- particularly the histone/K27M findings.
Times are changing. Just a few years ago there was no preclinical DIPG research. Now DIPG research has garnered the interest and inclusion from larger brain tumor organizations. DIPG does have alot in common with adult GBMs- particularly poor statistics, invasiveness and the blood brain barrier. The combined efforts with these other organizations seems to be a great thing in fighting DIPG.
Reference:
DC Race for Hope-
http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/PageServer?pagename=RFH_DC_Homepage
