Dana-Farber/Boston Children's launches first DIPG Brain Tumor Consortium
December 16, 2019
Earlier this month, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) researchers
from several pediatric hospitals around the country gathered in Boston to share
their innovative ideas and kick off the first DIPG Clinical Consortium.
Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood
Disorders Center will lead this effort in partnership with Lucile Packard
Children’s Hospital Stanford, Seattle Children’s, Lurie Children’s Hospital of
Chicago, Texas Children’s Hospital, and the University of Florida. Each of
these sites has experienced researchers with a major focus on improving
outcomes of children with DIPG.
“The idea behind this consortium is to use extensive
preclinical information from DIPG tumor cells and animal models to optimize
clinical trial design, determine effective dosing and scheduling, and translate
these in comprehensive clinical trials for children with DIPG.” says Katherine
Warren, MD, clinical director for Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at
Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s.
DIPG is highly aggressive and one of the most
difficult-to-treat childhood tumors. It’s the second most common malignant
brain tumor, as well as the leading cause of brain tumor death among children.
Outcomes for these children have not changed in more than three decades. This
consortium is dedicated to changing that by expanding preclinical studies and
using this information to strengthen the scientific rationale and study design.
“We want to figure out what preclinical information we
need to expand upon before we bring it to the clinic, so these kids have a
chance,” says Warren. “We need to know
which drugs are effective, if the drug
reaches the tumor, and what dose is needed to get the anti-tumor effect. We want this information before going
to clinical trial, so that when patients enroll in studies, they receive
effective doses of active drugs.”