Childhood Brain Tumours Flashcards
1
Q
There has been steady improvement in overall survival of children with cancer but not CNS tumours - what is the survival rate?
A
Only 50%
2
Q
What are the challenges involved in childhood brain tumours?
A
- Optimisation and individualisation of current therapies
- Maximise efficacy
- Minimise side effects
- Development of new therapeutic approaches
3
Q
The complexity of CNS tumours involves interaction of what factors?
A
- Age of onset
- Location/surgical accessibility
- Histological type and grade
- Post surgical stage
- Biology
- Impact of treatment
- Drug resistance
4
Q
What are some of the issues associated with CNS tumours?
A
- Brain tumours are relatively rare therefore there is poor understanding of disease biology
- No accurate disease stratification results in broadly based treatment strategies and high mortality/morbidity
- Low priority for molecular research results in lack of molecular targets for new treatment approaches
5
Q
How do we improve outcomes through biology in childhood brain tumours?
A
- Markers for patient management leading to validation/clinical trials leading to patient stratification leading to individualised therapy based on biological data
- Targets for therapeutic intervention leading to mechanistic studies evaluating the biological role leading to drug development, clinical trials and new rationally developed therapies
6
Q
What are some of the key genetic hypotheses that have been proven for childhood CNS tumours?
A
- Genetic markers can predict outcome (e.g. TrkC in medulloblastoma)
- tumours arising in different anatomical locations are genetically distinct entities
- tumours arising in different age groups have distinct genetic aberrations
- tumours of different histological grade have distinct genetic fingerprints
- development of large datasets linked to clinical parameters will enable discovery of novel therapeutic targets
- Tumourigenesis arises from disordered neural development and involves distinct tumour specific pathways
