Back in February 2014, Libby and Tony Kranz found themselves at the center of every parent's worst nightmare. Their six-year-old daughter Jennifer died just four months after being diagnosed with diffused intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an incurable and fatal brain tumor. At the time, the Kranzes decided to generously donate their daughter's brain to research in hopes that scientists could hopefully develop more effective treatments for DIPG, which affects 200-400 school-aged children in the United States annually and has a five-year survival rate of less than 1 percent.
As reported in the above Bay Area Proud segment, Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology and neurological sciences who sees patients at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, and colleagues harvested Jennifer's tumor and successfully created a line of DIPG stem cells, one of only 16 in existence in the world. More from the story:
Using Jennifer's stem cell lines and others, Monje and her team tested dozens of existing chemotherapy drugs to see if any were effective against DIPG. One appears to be working.
The drug was able to slow the growth of a DIPG tumor in a laboratory setting. Monje's hope is that this treatment one day could extend the life of children diagnosed with DIPG by as many as six months.
That would have more than doubled Jennifer's life expectancy.
"It's a step in the right direction if we can effectively prolong life and prolong quality of life," Monje said.
Libby Kranz says that for their family, donating their daughter's tumor to researchers "just felt right." She and Tony hope that by aiding the research efforts, parents and families will have more, and better quality time with their sick children.
"It's incredible and it's humbling," she said, "to know my daughter is part of it, and that we're part of it too."
Previously: Existing drug shows early promise against deadly childhood brain tumor, Stanford brain tumor research featured on "Bay Area Proud," Emmy nod for film about Stanford brain tumor research - and the little boy who made it possible and Finding hope for rare pediatric brain tumor
