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Founded in 1978, the Children’s Tumor Foundation is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of individuals living with neurofibromatosis (NF). Our research program has played a key role in the discovery of the genes that cause NF, understanding the biology of NF, creation of The NF Clinic Network and preclinical screening of promising drug compounds to treat the disorder.
Neurofibromatosis is the term for three distinct genetic disorders: NF1, NF2 and Schwannomatosis. The most common form, NF1 (1:3,000 births), has a wide range of severity, varying from café au lait spots to learning disabilities, bone abnormalities, and brain and spinal tumors. NF2 (1:25,000 births) is characterized by multiple brain and spinal tumors, commonly causing deafness, severe balance problems, decreased mobility and vision loss. Schwannomatosis (1:40,000 births) causes nerve tumors associated with chronic pain. Half of all cases occur as a result of a spontaneous genetic mutation, with the child’s family having no genetic history of the disorder. Neurofibromatosis affects both sexes and all races and ethnic groups equally. NF is more prevalent than cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease combined.
The money raised through Racing4Research will fund our Drug Discovery Initiative (DDI) program to increase the number of candidate NF drugs being tested, and therefore to increase the chances that we will find therapies to treat the tumors, bone abnormalities, learning disabilities and other manifestations of NF.
The Children's Tumor Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) medical foundation. For more information, please visit the CTF website.
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