PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Kathleen Sakamoto, MD, PhD, and Irving Weissman, MD, of the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital, have received a $1.37 million grant from CureSearch for Children's Cancer to research the effects of an antibody that has been shown to be effective against human cancers in animal models.

In a healthy person, when the body makes abnormal cells or when cells become old, the body's scavenger cells, called macrophages, eliminate them. When a person has cancer, the abnormal cells are not eliminated by the macrophages. Researchers under the leadership of Weissman, director of the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and of the Ludwig Center at Stanford, discovered that pediatric brain tumor, leukemia, bone tumor and neuroblastoma cells overproduce a cell-surface protein known as CD47. The overproduction of CD47 on cancer cells tells macrophages "don't eat me," allowing the disease to progress. Weissman's team tested an antibody to block the "don't eat me" signal in a variety of cancer cells and in animals and found that the strategy can be effective.

This grant will support our teams efforts to learn more about the immune systems of pediatric cancer patients, says Sakamoto, the Shelagh Galligan Professor and chief of the division of hematology and oncology, and help pave the way toward our goal of developing new treatments for some of our most vulnerable patients.

About Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital at Stanford

Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital at Stanford is an internationally recognized 311-bed hospital and leading regional medical network providing a full complement of services for the health of children and expectant mothers.Together,our world-class Stanford Medicine doctors, nurses and staff deliver innovative, nurturing care and extraordinary outcomes in every pediatric and obstetric specialty. Packard Childrens is annually ranked as one of the nations finest byU.S. News & World Reportand the only Northern California childrens hospital with specialty programs ranked in theU.S. NewsTop 10. Learn more about our full range of preeminent programs atlpch.organd the Packard Childrens Health Alliance atPCHA.org. Like us onFacebook, watch us onYouTube and follow us onTwitter.

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Stanford Medicine Investigators Awarded $1.37 Million Grant for Children's Cancer Research