Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD

Funded by the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund

Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the most common cancers in children, teenagers, and young adults. More than nine out of ten patients are cured today, but the chemotherapy and radiation that cure them can often cause both short- and long-term harm. Many survivors develop serious health problems years later, such as heart disease or a second cancer. In a smaller group of patients, the lymphoma never fully disappears, or it returns after treatment ends. Doctors currently use scans to decide who needs more therapy and who needs less. Scans are helpful, but they are not exact, so some children receive treatment they do not need while others receive too little. Our project tests a better tool: a simple blood test called a liquid biopsy to study DNA from Hodgkin lymphoma. As a tumor grows, it sheds tiny pieces of its DNA into the blood. We can read those DNA pieces, much like scanning a barcode, to measure how much cancer is left in each patient. The same blood sample also reveals viruses and immune cells that shape how the lymphoma behaves. We will study samples from more than two hundred young patients treated in a national clinical trial.Our goal is to build and deliver a scorecard that tells doctors, within weeks of starting treatment, whether the therapy is working or not. If it succeeds, this test will help doctors match treatment to each child. Patients doing well could safely avoid extra chemotherapy and radiation, and the lasting harm they cause. Patients at higher risk could receive more intense treatment right away, while there is still an excellent chance to cure them.