TMC experts join forces to fight eye cancer in children - Houston Business Journal:

tenamup.wordpress.com
With experts from Texas Children’s Cance r Center, the Children’s Cancer Hospital at The , the and , the new centet “will be able to deliver the highesg quality patient care and conduct important researcbh related to the diagnosis and treatmentof retinoblastoma,” a cancer of the eye that attackws children, said center clinical codirector Dr. Murali Chintagumpala, pediatric oncologis at Texas Children’s Cancer Centee and professor of pediatrics at Baylor Collegdeof Medicine.
The center will be the firsty of its kind in the southwest Unitedd States and is the only one in the nation usinb gene therapy in clinical trials to treat and potentiallyu find a cure for Patients will also have access to a special form of radiatiojn called proton therapy that helps spare healthh tissue around tumor areas and minimize the risk ofsecondargy cancers. In addition, the center will perform genetic testing, an important elemenft because retinoblastoma isoften hereditary.
Retinoblastoma affectsd about 350 infants and children in the Unitedc States each year and is the most common malignant tumor of the eyein “Since this cancer is so it’s important for us to come togetherd as a team to share our expertise and bring the best care to all retinoblastomq patients,” said Dr. Dan Gombos, clinical codirector of the center and associate professor of ophthalmologyat M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Othe research codirectors of centerare Dr. Richard Hurwitz, Texas Children’w Cancer Center and associate professorin BCM’ds departments of pediatrics, molecular and cellular biology and the Centere for Cell and Gene Therapy; and Dr.
Petet Zage, assistant professor of pediatrics atthe Children’s Cancerf Hospital at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.