David Russell
The Jessica Bongiovanni Research Fund: benefiting goundbreaking osteosarcoma research under the direction of Dr. Paul A. Meyers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The Jessica Bongiovanni Research Fund was established at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in 2014 by the Russell and Bongiovanni families to honor Jessica's tremendous legacy and to support research and therapy development that will advance the fight against osteosarcoma.
Together with the head of MSK’s Neuroblastoma Program Dr. Nai-Kong Cheung, Dr. Paul Meyers and his team are pleased to announce the development of a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that can help to control metastasis in osteosarcoma patients. Patients with pulmonary metastases of osteosarcoma undergo surgery to remove the visible nodules from the lung and the monoclonal antibody is given to destroy the remaining microscopic disease. A promising proportion of patients have remained free of disease recurrence after combined surgery and monoclonal antibody therapy. In 2020, the antibody—now known as Naxitamab—was approved and licensed by the FDA. The biopharmaceutical firm Y-mAbs Therapeutics has taken on the development of the antibody, and clinical trial in osteosarcoma has been expanded to the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The phase II trial is estimated to be completed in 2025, after which the Children’s Oncology Group will implement a phase III randomized trial of the benefits of adding the monoclonal antibody to chemotherapy for newly diagnosed patients with osteosarcoma.
Dr. Cheung’s laboratory has continued to develop novel forms of immunotherapy for pediatric solid tumors including osteosarcoma. He has designed an antibody drug conjugate which takes advantage of the ability of the monoclonal antibody to bind and deliver toxic agents uniquely to osteosarcoma tumor cells while sparing normal cells. We have begun clinical trials of this novel agent in patients with osteosarcoma.
Additionally, pediatric oncologist and fellow member of MSK’s sarcoma service Dr. Emily Slotkin has developed a novel method to search for minute quantities of DNA circulating in the blood stream which act as markers of osteosarcoma cells in the body. This technique is far more sensitive than waiting for tumors to become large enough to see on X-rays or scans and can be used to monitor patients’ response to treatment and serve as an early warning signal of recurrence.
Dr. Michael Kinnaman, a member of the pediatric sarcoma service, has performed whole genome sequencing of osteosarcoma tumors at diagnosis and at recurrence. His analyses have demonstrated the mutations that take place as osteosarcoma evolves to become resistant to frontline systemic therapy and are identifying critical molecular targets in osteosarcoma. Two prospective randomized double-blind trials have demonstrated that regorafenib, a multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has activity in roughly 50% of patients with metastatic recurrent osteosarcoma.
Dr. Filomen Dela Cruz, a member of the pediatric sarcoma service, has established the world’s largest bank of osteosarcoma patient derived xenografts. He takes tumor specimens removed from patients and implants them in mice lacking an immune system which permits the growth of human tissues. This model system allows us to test novel agents in patient specific material to identify patient specific therapies more reliably than growing tumors in test tubes. In recognition of his excellent work, he has been selected to head the sarcoma xenograft efforts for the entire Children’s Oncology Group, the international consortium of institutions in North America that care for children with cancer. His work also led to the identification of a promising new agent for the treatment of osteosarcoma. We have known for many years that osteosarcoma tumor cells express an antigen called HER2. There are several antibodies which can target this antigen. More recently, an antibody drug conjugate was developed which combines a well-established antibody against HER2, trastuzumab, with a toxin, deruxtecan, and this agent demonstrated outstanding activity in breast cancer. Dr. Dela Cruz’s work in xenografts demonstrated that this agent had strong activity against osteosarcoma xenografts, leading to a clinical trial of this agent in patients with metastatic recurrent osteosarcoma.
If you have any questions our would like to make a gift by check please contact our MSK liaison Sophie Ponchak at 646.227.2992 or ponchaks@mskcc.org.
Checks can be made payable to: Memorial Sloan Kettering (please mention Jessica's name in the memo line) and sent to:
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Office of Development, Attn: Sophie Ponchak
PO Box 27106
New York, NY 10087
*All contributions made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are 100% tax-deductible.
Thank you to all of our generous donors over the years
The Russell Family
David Allen
Rich and Peg Anderson
Anonymous
Nadine and Richard Ashton
Ken Baron
The Bass Family
Becky Bennet
Gail Reed Bongiovanni
The Jessica Bongiovanni Trust Fund
Kevin and Kathy Bongiovanni
Tony & Mary Calcagno
LeRoi and Susan Cochran
Dennis and Renate Conrad
The DeAlessandro Family
The DeLorenzo Family
Mark and Deb Deputy
Deirdre DiLibero
Steve and Nancy Dixon
The Dixon Family
Brendan Dunn
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Etter
Tanice and Dudley Fitzpatrick
Alex Gasbarre
Stephen Goodman
Michael Harrington
Mike Hatchman
Tova and Eric Hayden
Lee and Dan Helmick
Jim Heskett
Jon Heyler
Brad and Amy Heyman
Jon Holthaus
Jeff and Glenda Hooten
The Hooten Family
The Jimenez Family
Megan and Alex Jimenez
Ashish Karandikar
Keith and Diana Kohlhepp
Jessica Krischik
Dr. and Ms. E. Leppert
Mike and Tracy Leppert and Family
David and Mary Lepping
Jack and Mary Ann Lepping
Michele Mahaffey
Tony and Lisa Manne
Kathy McLeod
The Mincey Fund
Kelsey and Jon Moroz
Michael and Carol Moroz
Harvey Murray
Licinio Oliviera
Ryan and Jennifer Palmer
Sandra Palmer
Fred Parker
Phase One Realty, Inc.
Mike and Toni Pitts
The Previte Family
John and Debby Riston
Christine Rivera
Eric Ruebenstahl
Maura and Chuck Russell
Ryan, Lisa and Logan Russell
Stefanie and Sean Russell
The Russell Family
The Russell Vann Family
Gretta and Barry Seidel
Matt and Peg Shaffai
Ira and Michelle Silfan
Keith and Randi Silfan
Clayton Smith
Barry and Robin Smulofsky
The Sonnema Family
Ralph and Diane Spector
Allan Sullivan
The TenEyck Family
The Testino Family
Thurston Hall Investment Research
The Toia Family
Paul Trause
Peter and Ellen Vogel
Jeff and Julie Walker
Mr. and Mrs. Craig Wolpert
Michael Zacharias and Kathy McLeod
The Zinna Family
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