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A University of Hawaii at Hilo researcher is embarking on a project to find a cure for a pediatric cancer that arises from nerve cells — a disease with a higher incidence among Native Hawaiians and other Native Americans compared to Caucasians.
UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy assistant professor Dana-Lynn Ko‘omoa-Lange, 41, received a five-year, $675,000 career development award from the National Cancer Institute to conduct the research.
Ko‘omoa-Lange, who joined the College of Pharmacy last year, previously worked for four years at the UH Cancer Center in Honolulu.
Ko‘omoa-Lange said the research involves looking at genetic traits that make certain people prone to neuroblastoma, and finding new drugs that could stop the growth of tumors and the spread of tumor cells.
African-Americans and Native Americans with neuroblastoma have a higher incidence of high-risk disease than Caucasians, according to a 2011 study by the Children’s Oncology Group that was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The study, involving a large group with neuroblastoma between 2001 and 2009, showed that black, Asian and Native American children have a "significantly worse outcome than Caucasian children."
The study said genetic factors have been shown to contribute to the outcome disparities, including sometimes the effectiveness of a drug.
Ko‘omoa-Lange is a 1989 graduate of McKinley High School.