Your support is helping eliminate graft-versus-host disease.

Many childhood cancer treatment plans include stem cell transplants that can lead to a life-threatening condition called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This disease develops when the donor’s immune cells mistakenly attack the child’s normal cells.

Nearly half of patients with severe GVHD will die. Researchers have already discovered that cells called T-cells can overpower GVHD, but it’s incredibly costly to make enough T-cells in the lab to be effective.

How your donation helps:

Bruce R. Blazar, MD, and his team discovered how to make T-cells even more powerful against GVHD by changing their cellular structure. Your support will help Blazar and his team to further investigate how T-cells use fatty acids to make them more powerful against GVHD. With more power behind fewer cells, saving lives could cost far less. This research will also allow Blazar’s team to find already available drugs in use for obesity to treat GVHD more effectively than ever before.