In the past 30 years, childhood deaths from cancer have declined by 50 percent overall, but those from pediatric brain cancer have only decreased by 30 percent.
Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital think precision medicine…could help improve those rates.
Investigators conducted genetic testing on 203 patient tumor samples and found that 56 percent of them harbored genetic abnormalities that could either help doctors diagnose or treat the brain tumor with drugs that are already available or those being studied in clinical trials.
The findings of their study…[also suggest] that brain tumors in children and adults need to be treated differently.
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For decades, every child with the same tumor type received the same treatment, says Pratiti Bandopadhayay, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. “We’re learning that when you look at these tumors under the microscope, even if they look the same, they might have different genetic drivers.”
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[However,] Ann Kingston, director of research and scientific policy at the National Brain Tumor Society…says even people with the same genetic mutations in their tumors might not respond similarly to the same treatment. [The study can be found here.]The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Genetic Testing Offers New Hope for Children with Brain Cancer
