Hope for Children with Brain Tumors

In Illinois, researchers discovered how the most deadly pediatric brain tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, develops and found a compound that can flip the switch on cancer-promoting genes turning them off so the tumor shrinks. Researchers used biopsied tumor samples from patients to create the lab models and it took less than two years for them to make the discovery. Considering only 5 percent of children with this brain tumor survive, being able to shrink tumors and increase survival rates in animal models is giving major hope for children and their parents. Clinical trials will begin at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago by the end of the year.