Dr. John Mullinax: Understanding the “Why” of Pediatric Sarcoma Immunotherapy
How a grant through the V Foundation, in partnership with Hockey Fights Cancer™, is enabling John Mullinax, M.D., to understand why treatments are working in a clinical trial aimed at pediatric sarcoma immunotherapy.
John Mullinax, M.D., an Associate Member in the Sarcoma Department and Immunology Department of Moffitt Cancer Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, has treated sarcoma patients of various ages throughout his career. Much of his previous research in immunotherapy for soft-tissue sarcoma patients was focused on young adults (18-40) with the disease. Dr. Mullinax, with colleague Jonathan Metts, M.D., had a thought: could this course of treatment be effective in children?
“It was a progression of work,” Dr. Mullinax said. “Recognizing what we learned in adults, frankly there’s no reason it shouldn’t work in kids. In fact, it may work better. Despite the historical belief that pediatric tumors do not stimulate the immune system, we know that their immune systems are often stronger than older adult patients.”
Traditionally, there have been two problems with conventional pediatric cancer treatments. First, the therapies can be toxic and have long-lasting effects into adulthood for survivors. This is because chemotherapy kills cells that are rapidly dividing, like cancer cells, but our bodies also have normal cells that divide rapidly and chemotherapy does not distinguish between normal cells vs cancer cells. Another issue with chemotherapy is that responses are not always durable and long-lasting.
Immunotherapy addresses both of those issues.
“Broadly speaking, when we use the term immunotherapy, what we mean is that we are using the patient’s own immune system to fight their cancer,” Dr. Mullinax said. “The approach of immunotherapy was developed 40 years ago at the National Cancer Institute and since that time many groups have focused on optimizing several approaches.”
Dr. Mullinax’s lab focuses on cellular immunotherapy, meaning they take the patient’s own cells and use them to help fight the cancer.
“Because the treatment is the patient’s own cells and they’re not modified in any way, the cellular treatment itself, doesn’t really have any toxicity,” Dr. Mullinax continued. “And because immunotherapy uses your body’s immune system, which is a living thing, the responses are durable so patients that have a response, it’s for quite a long time.”
This clinical trial could lead to game-changing advancements in how children and adolescents with soft-tissue sarcomas are treated, resulting in gentler and more durable therapies. For the time being, Dr. Mullinax and his team are dedicated to learning as much as possible.
“That’s where the V Foundation comes in,” Dr. Mullinax said. “They allow us to understand the ‘why’ from the results of the clinical trial. While we will learn about how patients respond during the treatment with Dr. Metts, through the research funded by V Foundation in my lab, we’ll learn why some patients do better. This will allow us to optimize this treatment for the next clinical trial. That’s our focus. We’re not thinking about just today, but we’re also thinking about tomorrow. And the V Foundation allows us to do that.”
A Strong Team: Hockey Fights Cancer powered by the V Foundation
Dr. Mullinax’s 2025 Game-Changer Grant through the V Foundation would not be possible without the incredible generosity of passionate partners. This grant was funded by Jeff Vinik and the Tampa Bay Lightning in support of Hockey Fights Cancer™ powered by the V Foundation, enabling Dr. Mullinax and his team to be bold in their pursuit of game-changing breakthroughs.
“Moffitt Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins All-Children’s Hospital are fundamental organizations within the community that provide a tremendous level of care and resources to people,” Dr. Mullinax said. “Mr. Vinik and the Tampa Bay Lightning are very similar to that. As such embedded members of the Tampa Bay region, their support shows their desire for patients of the Tampa Bay area to do well.”
“Mr. Vinik, the Lightning, the V Foundation, Hockey Fights Cancer – we share their vision for improving the lives of patients with cancer. Being able to do this work here locally in Tampa Bay and provide these novel clinical trials and learn from these patients is fantastic.”
In just two years, the partnership of Hockey Fights Cancer™ and the V Foundation has raised over $12 million, with $7.5 million going to groundbreaking cancer research through the V Foundation.
Jim Valvano at the 1993 ESPY awards
The V Foundation’s Impact: Florida and Beyond
The V Foundation’s influence in the cancer research sector is easily seen. Jim Valvano’s undeniable spirit lives on through each patient, donor and researcher.
“From a personal standpoint, it’s incredibly humbling to have your work funded and to do the work that you proposed. It’s what the V Foundation means and what those before me have done. From the spirit of the Foundation itself, its inception: “Don’t Give Up . . . Don’t Ever Give Up!”® Those words, as a researcher, we take that to heart.”
“Federal funding is incredibly important to cancer research, but it’s not as personal as foundation support. [With V] Foundation funding, there are donors and founders behind this who have lived the experience we are trying to improve for patients: Coach V, Stuart Scott, all the people we associate with the V Foundation. That’s the spirit of what we are doing.”
In Florida alone, the V Foundation has funded 81 grants totaling over $22 million. These researchers, including Dr. Mullinax, have, throughout their careers, received an additional 250 grants totaling $730 million in funding, produced over 8,600 publications, and worked on 102 clinical trials.
“Without generous donors like you, we wouldn’t be able to do this important work,” Dr. Mullinax said. “The funding environment is especially tough recently, so your gifts mean all that much more now. We appreciate this tremendously. I know our patients do and our colleagues do too. There’s no doubt that the funds that you provide are doing great things within the cancer research community.”
