Dear ASPS Community,
Tomorrow Saturday August 1-2, 2026, Team ASPS will ride for the 23rd time the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), a ride from Wellesley to Provincetown, MA, USA. Please sponsor our 150-mile bike ride and sponsor research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute that aims to bring more therapies for ASPS.
Twenty-two years ago, my middle daughter was diagnosed with ASPS.
The PMC is a bike-a-thon that crosses Massachusetts to raise funds for cancer research and clinical trials at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Thanks to our committed donors, and the support of friends and family who rode with Team ASPS in the PMC over the past 22 years, we have raised over $800,000 exclusively for ASPS research.
Please visit our website: Cure Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma international
In 2005, following our second ride with Team ASPS, we were able to initiate the first-ever human ASPS clinical trial, the Cancer Vaccine clinical trial (GVAX), developed by Dr. Glenn Dranoff at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This sparked additional clinical trials including ARQ197, Cediranib, Anlotinib, Axitinib, and Pembrolizumab. December 2022 marked a major accomplishment for ASPS patients when TECENTRIQ (atezolizumab) was approved by the FDA as the first drug for ASPS. Recent efforts are using a new technology called CAR-T, in which a patient’s own immune cells are engineered to recognize and kill ASPS cancer cells.
Your donation will help us continue collaborative research on ASPS at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and initiate a new human clinical trial for ASPS.
Our current research efforts at the Dana-Farber and the University of Massachusetts Memorial Children’s Medical Center are conducted by Dr. Matthew Hemming, Dr. Prafulla Gokhale and Dr. George Demetri. Our goal this year is to test a novel drug in clinical trials that based on Dr. Hemming’s studies is a potential ASPS therapy. If shown to be successful in animal studies, it will then be tested in human clinical trials.
About twenty years ago my wife, Esther, and I founded “Cure Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma International”. The organization aims to bring together ASPS patients, families, and friends from around the world who share a common interest in finding a cure. Our website contains the most up-to-date information on ASPS research, clinical trials and treatment options, which is essential for making well-informed treatment decisions for this rare cancer.
An interactive forum on the website enables ASPS patients to find information, share their experiences, ask questions and receive support from the ASPS community. Through this forum, patients around the world can learn from one another and make better informed decisions regarding their ASPS treatments.
How to donate:
Online donations through my PMC rider page: https://profile.pmc.org/YL0002
Once you are on my page you can “DONATE TO MY PMC,” by using A Credit Card, Bank Account or VENMO.
Your donation is fully tax-deductible. The PMC tax ID is: 04-2746912
Thank you for your support!
Best Wishes,
Yosef Landesman
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Yosef Landesman, Ph.D.
President & Cancer Research Director
Cure Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma International (iCureASPS)