Photo by: Leslie Cantu/Journal Scene

Dr. Jacqueline Kraveka explains the tests being run on different samples of neuroblastoma cells as Whitney Ringler looks on.

Photo Provided

Chase Ringler

Pediatric cancers get about 4 percent of the research budget from the federal government’s National Cancer Institute, or close to $200 million.

That’s roughly equivalent to the cost of a single 787 Dreamliner being built at Boeing.

Dr. Jacqueline Kraveka likes to bring up this statistic whenever she gets the opportunity, including when presidential contender Newt Gingrich visited MUSC, to point out how much more could be accomplished if more money were directed to childhood cancers.

The oncology unit at MUSC is the only pediatric cancer lab in all of South Carolina as well as the only place in the state for children to get bone marrow transplants.

Luckily for Kraveka, she has a determined Summerville mom in her corner.

“Whitney’s support has been instrumental,” she said.

Whitney Ringler started the Chase After a Cure foundation to raise money for neuroblastoma research after her son, Chase Ringler, underwent a grueling regimen of surgery, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, radiation and antibody therapy to fight off his neuroblastoma.

It’s been more than four years since his diagnosis, and Chase is doing well. He plays soccer, swims, competes in the Pinewood Derby, and is enrolled in the second grade at Reeves Elementary School.

But Ringler knows that lots of children in Chase’s position don’t do well. For children in the high-risk group, the survival rate is less than 40 percent, said Kraveka, who runs the lab at MUSC looking into neuroblastomas and also treats patients.

Neuroblastoma is the third-leading cause of death from childhood cancers, she said.

Neuroblastomas are possibly a common occurrence in babies. They seem to be remnants of primitive nerve tissue that don’t mature, and most of the time they just go away, Kraveka said.

Sometimes, though, in about 700 children each year, the neuroblastoma grows into a tumor.

Some of those tumors respond well to treatment, but others are very resistant, and researchers are trying to figure out where the difference lies.

They already know of some markers; for example, high levels of the protein MYCN usually correlate with bad outcomes, although not all children with bad outcomes show elevated levels.

Researchers want to understand how the tumors grow, then find better treatment options. The neuroblastoma treatment is very toxic, Ringler said, and often painful. Existing treatments also leave side effects. Chase, for example, wears hearing aids and lost a kidney during surgery.

Kraveka knows that most of the research dollars go to adult cancers because there are so many more adult than child patients.

But merely looking at the numbers --- 15,000 children each year are diagnosed with some type of pediatric cancer – isn’t enough, she said.

“That number, to a parent, to a doctor, is huge,” she said.

There’s little overlap between research into adult and pediatric cancers because they are so different, she said.

And in the past 20 years, only one pediatric cancer drug has received approval, she said.

Chase After a Cure is trying to change some of those statistics. The foundation is preparing for its fourth annual gala on Feb. 25 to raise money for research.

The first three galas raised $150,000.

Kraveka and her fellow researchers, Drs. Li Li, Mehrdad Rahmaniyan and Amr Qudeimat, are hard at work running tests to figure out which drugs and in what combination are the best way to kill off neuroblastomas.

“I’d love to not have a job someday,” she said.

For more information on the gala or to purchase a ticket, visit www.chaseafteracure.com.

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