Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children in the United States, and B cell malignancy is the most common form of childhood cancer, accounting for more than 30% of all childhood cancers. Although outcomes in pediatric patients with B cell lymphoma have improved in recent decades, with survival rates of >80%, relapse or progression are nearly universally fatal for children and young adults with relapsed and refractory mature B cell lymphoma.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common form of childhood leukemia and the leading cause of death in children with cancer. While therapy is often curative, ~10% of children will relapse with recurrent disease and abysmal outcomes. Unfortunately, recent efforts to increase the dose or frequency of standard therapy have failed to prevent relapse. Thus, we have reached the ceiling of efficacy for current therapy and new strategies are needed. Here, we take a novel approach by focusing on HMGA1 proteins as drivers of relapse in leukemia.

Fibrolamellar carcinoma is an liver cancer of adolescents and young adults. Currently the only effective treatment is surgery, but this is only possible in a subset of cases. Chemotherapy and targeted therapies have not been successful to date. Important features of this cancer include the presence of an abnormal gene in virtually every patient. This abnormal gene, referred to as DNAJB1-PRKACA, is found in virtually all patients.

MYCN is a potent cancer-causing gene, and its elevated activity drives the initiation, progression, and treatment resistance of a broad spectrum of childhood cancers. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor among children, with approximately half of them characterized as high-risk, which spread to distant organs rapidly and result in less than 50% survival rates.

Ewing sarcoma is a cancer most often diagnosed in teenagers. We know that some changes in the make-up of Ewing tumors make them more likely to be aggressive and spread to other parts of the body. When Ewing sarcoma spreads to other parts of the body, like the lung, it is very hard to cure. Radiation is one therapy used to treat Ewing sarcoma in the lungs. Radiation can directly damage tumor cells and can also "call" immune cells into the tumor to help attack cancer cells.