Cancer Is The No. 1 Cause Of Death By Disease For Children In The U.S.

• By Suzanna Cisneros
• September 26, 2018

Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Did you know the TTUHSC School of Medicine Cancer Center is home to the Texas Cancer Cell Repository and the Childhood Cancer Repository? The repository acts as a tissue storage bank which shares tumor samples nationwide and to countries around the world. With top cancer researchers, the center conducts laboratory and clinical research with more than 350 investigators across the U.S. and in 25 countries to develop new anti-cancer drugs for both adults and children with difficult-to-treat cancers.

Patrick Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D., director of the TTUHSC School of Medicine Cancer Center says, “This research involves taking cancer cells from patients' actual tumors, and recreating them so that we can understand how the cells work and what drugs might be used against them. Parents of children with cancer give us samples when the child dies, and we let them name the cells that go out into the laboratories. So, it's very special to the parents and it's very special for us." 

Learn more about TTUHSC's efforts to cure childhood cancer at: 

http://cancer.ttuhsc.edu/about.aspx

To see what our cancer team is doing to make a difference in the community, visit Dr. Reynold's most recent interview at: 

http://www.kcbd.com/2018/09/27/logging-miles-fight-cancer-help-texas-tech/