Childhood brain cancer breakthrough
Published: October 29, 2005
Scientists have made an important breakthrough in treating childhood brain cancer.
They have uncovered a protein that enables young patients to fight the disease better.
Researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, who are members of the United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG), studied the tumour cells of 109 children with a malignant brain tumour called medulloblastoma.
The results from the European-wide trial revealed a quarter of the tumours had a protein called Beta-catenin, and the twenty seven patients with it had a survival rate of nearly 93 per cent, compared to 65 per cent for those without it.
Treatments for childhood brain tumours are intensive and can have difficult side effects, and understanding more about how a tumour is likely to behave may allow doctors to tailor treatments to better suit individual children.
The researchers, whose finding is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, believe that patients who carry the activated protein have a milder form of the disease and could be spared unnecessary treatment.
This could reduce the impact of side effects on patients’ later life. For children with more aggressive tumours, intensive therapies could be prescribed earlier to try to improve these patients’ outcome.
Neuropathologist Prof David Ellison, of Newcastle University’s Northern Institute for Cancer Research, said: “This is the first time that a protein has been identified which signals a more favourable outcome in childhood medulloblastoma.
“We hope this discovery will make a crucial difference for patients having treatment for this type of brain tumour in the future.
“What was surprising about our results is that the catenin protein had previously been shown to be associated with aggressive behaviour in other cancers.
“In contrast we found that it was such a strong marker of positive outcome in medulloblastoma that even those patients whose cancer had been diagnosed at a later stage, when it had spread, had a more favourable outcome than those patients who lacked the activated protein.”
Neil Dickson, chairman of the Samantha Dickson Research Trust who co funded the study, said: “When our daughter Samantha died from a brain tumour in 1996 aged 16, we were determined to see something positive come about from her death.
“Our charity was set up to raise awareness and funds for research into brain tumours, and we are delighted that this significant finding offers the potential for improved quality of life and survival times for sufferers of medulloblastoma.”
The Samantha Dickson Research Trust was established by Neil and Angela Dickson in 1997 following the death of their daughter Samantha, aged 16, from a malignant brain tumour. It has already become the leading brain tumour charity in the UK and the largest funder of laboratory based brain tumour research.
Professor John Toy, medical director of Cancer Research UK, added: “The management of childhood brain tumours will just improve with a greater understanding of the disease and these researchers have made an important contribution to identifying how these tumours respond to treatment.
“Finding better treatments for children with cancer has always been difficult due to the mercifully small number of cases. The UKCCSG has been instrumental in coordinating large scale international trials and this research is an excellent example of how collaboration can lead to advances in childhood cancer.”
In the UK, about three hundred children are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain cancer in children, making up about 20 per cent of all cases. Currently around 40 per cent of affected children die of the disease.
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