People with Fanconi anemia (FA) face a high risk of cancer, but their difficulty repairing DNA can make some cancer treatments especially harmful. This project examines two questions: Which compounds might help prevent cancer, and which cancer treatment drugs might be safer for people with...
Supported Research
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People with Fanconi anemia (FA) face a high risk of oral cancer. This project asks whether gene therapy delivered to the tissue lining the mouth could someday reduce that risk by helping cells repair DNA more effectively. FCF funding supports experiments in FA mouse models...
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Cancer care in Fanconi anemia (FA) is complex, and information about diagnosis, treatment and outcomes is often scattered across individual cases. This project will bring together medical records from people whose cases were presented to FCF’s Virtual Tumor Board and who consent to take part...
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With a 500–700 times greater risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, individuals with FA face a pressing need for prevention strategies. Building on findings from FCF’s collaboration with Stand Up to Cancer, this multi-institute clinical trial evaluates naproxen and metformin as potential chemopreventive...
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This project continues the long-running “Reducing the Burden of SCC in Fanconi Anemia” initiative, first funded by FCF in 2006. Dr. Velleuer-Carlberg and Ms. Krieg lead efforts to advance oral cancer screening through education, outreach, and research. Their work has shown the effectiveness of brush...
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This project builds on ongoing collaborations among BC Cancer, the NIH, and the University of Düsseldorf. Drs. Guillaud and Laronde are developing an automated DNA ploidy analysis platform for oral brush samples from individuals with FA. This innovative, noninvasive method enables frequent monitoring of cellular...
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Drs. Giri and McReynolds will continue their work developing an evidence-based cancer screening program for individuals with FA through supplemental funding to their existing NIH Center Comprehensive Program. Their project studies the natural history of oral potentially malignant lesions (OPMLs) and investigates biomarkers of carcinogenesis....
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Project Overview: This project addresses an urgent need for alternative therapies for individuals with FA aimed at preserving stem cell function, reducing genome instability, and delaying cancer onset. By developing novel therapeutic strategies utilizing translational-read-through-inducing drugs (TRIDs), nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) inhibitors, and anticodon-engineered tRNAs (ACE-tRNAs)...
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In collaboration with the American Association for Cancer Research, a global leader in cancer research, we've presented Dr. Wang with the 2024 Fanconi Cancer Foundation-AACR NextGen Grant for Transformative Cancer Research. Through this groundbreaking work, Dr. Wang seeks to prevent cancer in patients with Fanconi...
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This supplemental funding builds on the groundwork laid by the 2022 grant awarded to Drs. Markus Grompe and Raymond Monnat, titled Oral Mucosal Gene Therapy as a Prevention for FA-Associated Cancers. The proposed research focuses on reducing the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in...
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Czechowicz lab at Stanford Promising research needs continued support to answer the next question. A laboratory finding may need testing in more models. A screening study may need years of follow-up. An approach ready for a clinical study needs the...
How can we prevent cancer in people with FA? How can treatments become safer? At the 2026 FA Scientific Symposium in Phoenix, researchers shared progress toward answering these questions, alongside work to protect blood-forming cells and better understand the broader effects of FA. Some approaches are entering clinical studies. Others are helping researchers decide which ideas deserve further testing.
More than four decades ago, Lynn Frohnmayer was a mother searching for answers after learning that three of her five children had Fanconi anemia. There was no roadmap and no established network of families or experts. Information was scarce, treatments were limited, and the future her family had been given was devastating.