Wynnewood, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/22/2022 --Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) has teamed up with Ava's Army, a community organization based out of Nebraska to co-fund one of ALSF's 2021 Young Investigator Grant recipients, Dr. Caitlin Zebley, MD/PhD, of St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Ava's Army and ALSF share a vision of funding cutting-edge research to find safer, more effective treatments and cures for childhood cancers like acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Ava's Army was founded by Amanda Reinert in 2019 after her daughter Ava underwent a chemotherapy treatment to rid her body of leukemia. The treatment Ava received resulted in horrendous side effects, including neuropathy due to nerve damage from chemotherapy as well as severe dental issues caused by her prescribed drugs and chemotherapy. Long-term effects from her treatment include a significantly greater risk of developing breast cancer and other secondary cancers as a result of her poisonous treatment. The treatment Ava received is the same treatment children with leukemia have been receiving for 20 years. Ava's Army's goal and mission is to raise funds for the best and most promising pediatric leukemia research.

"With over 3,500 children in the United States being diagnosed with leukemia every year, Ava's Army is here to join the fight to find a better, safer, and more effective way to save children diagnosed with leukemia," said Amanda Reinert, founder of Ava's Army.

Ava's Army is donating 100,000 to help co-fund Dr. Caitlin Zebley's project, titled "Investigating Epigenetic Mechanisms of Response to Allogenic CAR T Cell Therapy." Dr. Zebley has identified T-cell exhaustion or non-responsive T cells as the cause of limited response to therapy when T-cells are acquired from the patient due to the dysfunctional tumor cells. In such cases, a parent can often serve as a T cell donor for a pediatric patient. Dr. Zebley's goal is to identify the "off" signals termed as DNA methylation programs that lead to T cell exhaustion in CAR T cells generated from a healthy donor such as a parent (allogeneic) and compare this with the patient (autologous). The "off" signal that causes exhaustion in CAR T cells then can be targeted for prolonged anti-tumor responses in pediatric patients.

About Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra "Alex" Scott (1996-2004). In 2000, 4-year-old Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of supporters across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. To date, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised over $250 million toward fulfilling Alex's dream of finding a cure, funding over 1,000 pediatric cancer research projects nationally. For more information on Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, visit AlexsLemonade.org.

For more information about Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation's charity partnerships, visit https://AlexsLemonade.org/About/Charity-Collaborators

You can learn more about Ava's Army on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Avas-Army-345834936149450/