Perry Receives $1 Million Grant to Study Repurposing Chemotherapeutic Agent
John Perry, PhD, Divsion of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Children's Mercy Kansas City, was awarded a $1,000,000 grant by Braden's Hope for Childhood Cancer for a three-year study named, “Overcoming therapeutic resistance by repurposing a classic chemotherapeutic drug as a targeted therapy to reactivate anti-cancer immunity.”
In contrast to current clinical practice of using toxic drugs at or near the maximum tolerated dose, which results in severe long-term side effects, this project will test the potentially transformative idea that drugs currently approved for cancer therapy can be used in a targeted manner to reactivate anti-cancer immunity against the cells responsible for relapse.
Dr. Perry is a faculty member of the Children's Research Institute at Children's Mercy and is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Children’s Mercy Kansas City is an independent, non-profit, 390-bed pediatric health system, providing over half a million patient encounters each year for children from across the country. Children’s Mercy is ranked by U.S. News & World Report in all ten specialties. We have received Magnet® recognition five times for excellence in nursing services. In affiliation with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, our faculty of nearly 800 pediatric specialists and researchers is actively involved in clinical care, pediatric research and educating the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists. The Children’s Mercy Research Institute (CMRI) integrates research and clinical care with nationally recognized expertise in genomic medicine, precision therapeutics, population health, health care innovation and emerging infections. In 2021 the CMRI moved into a nine-story, 375,000-square-foot space emphasizing a translational approach to research in which clinicians and researchers work together to accelerate the pace of discovery that enhances care.