The American Cancer Society (ACS) is deeply committed to finding new answers that will help every child and family affected by cancer.
Here are some examples of the research areas and scientists the American Cancer Society (ACS) helps fund. These investigators are working to find answers that will save more lives from childhood cancer and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
“This is an important study because it shows that pediatric cancer patients may have genetic variants in other cancer-related genes that they’re not aware of.
“I’m a childhood cancer survivor myself, and my family was screened for genetic variants related to my cancer. However, the genes identified in this study were not considered at the time my family and I were screened. Following up on these findings with more research is key for finding the best treatment for childhood cancer patients and better genetic counseling for them and their families.”—Ryan Diver, MSPH
See the highlight about Ryan Diver's published study.
“When I work with doctors who treat brain cancers in children, I hear stories from them and from patients’ families firsthand. The toxicity of the treatments these children receive is devastating. We need to have better treatments for these kids. We need treatments to be more targeted, so they will be less toxic and more effective. That’s what my lab is working on.”—Jezabel Rodriguez-Blanco, PhD
See the highlight about Dr. Rodriguez-Blanco's published study.
“Can survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer expect to live longer due to improvements in treatment? We used simulation modeling to find out—by estimating life expectancy of survivors diagnosed in the last 30 years.
“Simulation modeling is a powerful tool for leveraging data from cohort studies and other sources to understand the lifelong risks childhood and adolescent cancer survivors face as adults and for identifying opportunities to improve care and long-term health for children diagnosed with cancer.”—Jennifer Yeh, PhD
See the highlight about Dr. Yeh's published study.
“Grants from the American Cancer Society (ACS) help researchers like me identify new therapies for cancer patients. One new drug my lab is developing is a targeted therapy for children with mixed lineage leukemia (MLL), which has a very poor prognosis.
“By blocking the interaction of the MLL protein with another protein called menin, we developed very potent small molecule inhibitors that effectively block leukemia cell growth and induce complete remission in mice with leukemia from patient samples.
“Our work led to identification of a very potent and selective drug candidate that is currently in phase I clinical trial in these young leukemia patients.”
—Jolanta Grembecka, PhD
See the highlight about Dr. Grembecka's published study.
The American Cancer Society funds scientists who conduct research about cancer at medical schools, universities, research institutes, and hospitals throughout the United States. We use a rigorous and independent peer review process to select the most innovative research projects proposals to fund.
Each year, the American Cancer Society (ACS) Surveillance & Health Equity Science program publishes the latest data on cancer trends in the United States, including childhood cancers, as part of its Cancer Statistics report in the ACS journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. This report is accompanied by an educational publication, Cancer Facts & Figures.
These publications provide detailed analyses and estimates of cancer incidence, survival, and mortality trends in the US. They also have the latest information on cancer risk factors, early detection, treatment, and current research.
See Cancer Facts & Figures 2014 Special Section: Cancer in Children & Adolescents and Cancer Facts & Figures 2020 Special Section: Cancer in Adolescents & Young Adults for more statistics.
Find more statistics about childhood and adolescent cancer on the Cancer Statistics Center:
Use the analysis tool in the drop-down menu to see any of these statistics in comparison to other types of cancer.
"Although brain tumor survival is relatively high in children compared to adults, there are several tumor types for which survival remains dismally low. In addition, while enrollment in clinical trials is generally high in children diagnosed with cancer, racial/ethnic disparities in childhood brain tumor survival points towards a critical need for equitable enrollment in clinical trials for non-White children."—Kim Miller, MPH
Learn about brain tumor statistics for children and adolescents.