Greater Gainesville is leading the way in the fight against pediatric cancers.
This past August, Dr. John Ligon, a pediatric oncologist at UF Health, was awarded a $600,000 grant for his proposed treatment of osteosarcoma.
What is osteosarcoma?
Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer mainly affecting longer bones in the arms and legs, but it can begin anywhere. It affects children as well as adults.
A revolutionary breakthrough
Dr. Ligon has been with UF since January 2022. He was awarded the grant after publishing a study which suggested that an immunotherapy vaccine could be used to treat this form of cancer. While initially considering this treatment a radical approach, his research began to reveal its potential.
“Treatments for osteosarcoma have not changed in 40 years,” Ligon said. “Standard of care has not improved. Nothing has worked. The treatments are older than me.”
This treatment strategy is unique in two ways. For one, the vaccines themselves are personalized for each recipient’s specific tumor. Secondly, if an immune response is indeed activated, then this could suggest similar implications for other forms of solid cancers.
“I see immunotherapy as being in the same place today as chemotherapy was in the 1960s,” Ligon said. “It holds a lot of promise.”
Institutional greatness
The medical community in Gainesville has steadily earned a reputation as one of the premier places for research and treatment. The UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital was ranked first in the state according to a 2022 U.S. News and World Report. Gainesville has become a hub for medical tourism both statewide and nationally. With more doctors like Ligon contributing, it is bound to grow even more.
Despite his breadth of education and experience, Ligon is one of the younger doctors at UF Health. This grant is an exceptionally notable accolade, and not one that he had anticipated.
“I didn’t expect a grant of that size within six months of joining UF Health,” Ligon said.
Looking back, Ligon’s path to UF appears predestined. Hailing originally from San Antonio, the Baylor College of Medicine grad knew from the beginning of his studies that pediatrics would be his calling.
“I always knew it was going to be pediatrics. It was during my residency at UT Southwestern that I became really passionate about it,” Ligon said.
After stints at Johns Hopkins and the National Cancer Institute, Ligon discovered through his mentors just how highly esteemed UF Health was.
“The bottom line is that UF is passionate about finding better treatments to treat cancers. The last five to ten years, UF has done a lot of outstanding research. There’s a lot of research happening in Gainesville,” Ligon said.
The grant will go a long way in funding further research into fighting cancer. If these initial trials are successful, Ligon and his team have hope that immunotherapy could apply to treating other breast and lung cancers.
“It is really a very exciting time,” Ligon said. “There is a lot of optimism.”