$185,000 to Seattle Children’s Hospital for Ewing sarcoma

Dr. Lawlor’s team at Seattle Children’s Research Center is investigating new ways to stop relapse and metastasis in Ewing sarcoma, one of the toughest challenges in childhood cancer today.

Dr. Lawlor’s team has discovered that a protein called menin—already linked to other childhood cancers—plays a powerful role in Ewing sarcoma. Menin appears to keep tumor cells “stuck” in an immature state that makes them more aggressive and more likely to spread. When they remove menin in the lab, the cancer cells lose their ability to metastasize.

The exciting news is that drugs already in clinical trials for leukemia are designed to block menin. This project will test whether those same drugs can be repurposed to prevent Ewing sarcoma from returning and spreading.

By targeting the root causes of metastasis, this research has the potential to offer new hope for families whose children face this devastating disease. 

**This project was fully funded by the family of Eden Shoultz, who died from Ewing sarcoma on September 12, 2024. 

Step 2: This stage will examine how different tumor cell populations respond to menin inhibition and whether pairing this approach with other treatments could push cancer cells toward less aggressive behavior. The team will also test these strategies in advanced humanized models—systems that include human immune cells—to better understand how the treatment may perform in patients. The team is now working hard to leverage these findings to develop a new clinical trial. We are all hopeful that this research, done right here in the Pacific Northwest, will soon lead to new treatment options for kids with Ewing sarcoma.

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