A telethon is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause.
Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting people living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived with muscular dystrophy, MDA accelerates research, advances care, and works to empower families to live longer and more independent lives but is perhaps known for its working relationship with comedian, entertainer and actor Jerry Lewis, its national chairman of 55 years and host of his annual telethon held live each Labor Day weekend. The organization's headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois.
Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is a hereditary predisposition to colon cancer.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center located in Buffalo, New York. Founded by surgeon Roswell Park in 1898, the center was the first in the United States to specifically focus on cancer research. The center is usually called Roswell Park in short. The center, which conducts clinical research on cancer as well as the development new drugs, provides advanced treatment for all forms of adult and pediatric cancer, and serves as a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is as of 2019, the only upstate New York facility to hold the National Cancer Institute designation of "comprehensive cancer center".
Bevacizumab, sold under the brand name Avastin among others, is a monoclonal antibody medication used to treat a number of types of cancers and a specific eye disease. For cancer, it is given by slow injection into a vein (intravenous) and used for colon cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, glioblastoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and renal-cell carcinoma. In many of these diseases it is used as a first-line therapy. For age-related macular degeneration it is given by injection into the eye (intravitreal).
Adjuvant therapy, also known as adjunct therapy, adjuvant care, or augmentation therapy, is a therapy that is given in addition to the primary or initial therapy to maximize its effectiveness. The surgeries and complex treatment regimens used in cancer therapy have led the term to be used mainly to describe adjuvant cancer treatments. An example of such adjuvant therapy is the additional treatment usually given after surgery where all detectable disease has been removed, but where there remains a statistical risk of relapse due to the presence of undetected disease. If known disease is left behind following surgery, then further treatment is not technically adjuvant.
KRAS is a gene that provides instructions for making a protein called K-Ras, a part of the RAS/MAPK pathway. The protein relays signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. These signals instruct the cell to grow and divide (proliferate) or to mature and take on specialized functions (differentiate). It is called KRAS because it was first identified as a viral oncogene in the KirstenRAt Sarcoma virus. The oncogene identified was derived from a cellular genome, so KRAS, when found in a cellular genome, is called a proto-oncogene.
The Channel Seven Perth Telethon, regionally known simply as Telethon, is an annual telethon established in 1968 by philanthropist Sir James Cruthers and Brian Treasure, and produced by TVW, a Seven Network-owned television station in Perth, Western Australia. It raises money for over 100 beneficiaries each year including the Perth Children's Hospital, the Telethon Clinical Research Centre and the Telethon Kids Institute. Channel Seven's Perth Telethon is the highest donating telethon per capita in the world, and since the first Telethon in 1968 has raised over A$650 million in total.
Tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG-72) is a glycoprotein found on the surface of many cancer cells, including ovary, breast, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers. It is a mucin-like molecule with a molar mass of over 1000 kDa.
The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), based in Los Angeles, United States, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization of the entertainment industry. EIF funds more than 300 charitable organizations annually, both in the Los Angeles area and throughout the entire United States. To date, EIF has pledged more than $1 billion for its philanthropic initiatives.
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. is a Canadian company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, that is developing an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus called pelareorep for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Pelareorep is a non-pathogenic, proprietary isolate of the unmodified reovirus that: induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype through innate and adaptive immune responses.
Pelareorep is a proprietary isolate of the unmodified human reovirus being developed as a systemically administered immuno-oncological viral agent for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Pelareorep is an oncolytic virus, which means that it preferentially lyses cancer cells. Pelareorep also promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype through innate and adaptive immune responses. Preliminary clinical trials indicate that it may have anti-cancer effects across a variety of cancer types when administered alone and in combination with other cancer therapies.
Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on ovarian cancer research, advocacy and patient support. The organization was formed in January 2016 when the former not-for-profit organization Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, which focused primarily on ovarian cancer research, combined with Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, which focused primarily on ovarian cancer advocacy and support programs, to form one organization.
Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) is the UK version of Stand Up to Cancer, a US charitable television telethon, broadcast between 2012 and 2018 on the Channel 4 network in the United Kingdom, and again from 2020. The most recent edition of the telethon was on 15 October 2021, a programme which was hosted by Davina McCall, Alan Carr, Maya Jama and Adam Hills. By February 2015, the 2014 broadcast had raised £15,585,444 in pledges, in aid of cancer research.
Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., was appointed Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in September 2017. Previously, he was the Associate Director for Clinical Research, director of the Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies, and professor of Cancer Biology and Medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. In 2014–2015, he was the president of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Stephen Bruce Baylin is the deputy director and associate director for research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research and medicine and chief of cancer biology of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focus is epigenetics in the development of cancer, and he was one of the first researchers in this field in the 1980s.
Daniel D. Von Hoff is the physician in chief and director of translational research at Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), and current Virginia G. Piper Distinguished Chair for Innovative Cancer Research at HonorHealth Clinical Research Institute. He is also a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic and medical director of research as well as chief scientific officer at US Oncology. He is most notable for his work in targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer. He led the development of gemcitabine, and has several drugs in development.
Elizabeth M. Jaffee is an American oncologist specializing in pancreatic cancer and immunotherapy.
Luis Alberto Diaz, Jr. is the Head of the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology in Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Department of Medicine.
Edith Peterson Mitchell was a retired Brigadier general of the United States Air Force and an oncologist. She was clinical professor of medicine and medical oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. In 2015, she became the president of the National Medical Association.
