Australian children diagnosed with a brain tumour now have a better chance of accessing the best treatment for their disease thanks to a trans-Tasman collaboration spearheaded by The Kids Research Institute Australia cancer researcher Professor Nick Gottardo.
The Kids and Perth Children’s Hospital were among 11 organisations across Australia and New Zealand participating in a clinical study to validate a new diagnostic test for children with brain cancer to better understand the genomic and cellular characteristics of brain tumours.
Known as the AIM BRAIN Project, the study was initiated in Australia by Professor Gottardo who foresaw the opportunity to more accurately diagnose paediatric brain cancers in Australia, based on advances in tumour profiling developed in Germany that helps to decode the individual characteristics of each child’s disease.
There are more than 120 different types of brain cancers and each of those have multiple sub-types. Understanding the genetic and cellular make up of each cancer is critical to determining how best to treat the disease and optimise survival outcomes.
“Australian and New Zealand clinicians and researchers were relying on the goodwill of our German colleagues and collaborators to do this for us,” Professor Gottardo said. “We were sending tissue samples of brain cancers to Germany to help us obtain more accurate information about their disease and guide how best to treat our patients here.”
Professor Gottardo – who is Co-Head of Brain Tumour Research at The Kids and Head of the Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology/Haematology Department at Perth Children’s Hospital – led an Australian and New Zealand collaboration of cancer researchers to raise funds to bring in this technology to improve diagnostic accuracy for childhood brain tumours.
Under the AIM BRAIN Project, tumours from 269 child cancer patients were tested and benchmarked against the German ‘gold standard’ diagnostic testing, with 99 per cent concordance.
“Traditional methods of diagnosing a brain tumour tell us only half the story,” Professor Gottardo said. “Treating brain cancer is very different for every patient depending upon their age, the type of cancer and the stage of the cancer.
“With this diagnostic technology we can actually understand the different characteristics of each tumour and formulate a more appropriate treatment plan.”
Importantly, the team have worked together to get this new test officially accredited in Australia and work is separately underway to have it covered by Medicare so it is accessible to all Australian families.
The AIM BRAIN Project was funded by the Federal Government through Cancer Australia, the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation and Carrie’s Beanies for Brain
Cancer. The study was run under the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Haematology Group (ANZCHOG).
At a glance
- Brain cancer kills more children in Australia than any other cancer
- Every year about 120 kids are diagnosed with brain cancer
- Children with the worst survival rate – 55 per cent – are aged five years or younger
- Glioma and medulloblastoma are the two most common types of brain cancer
- In general, children diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour will have a better outlook than adults
- Because a child’s nervous system is developing, some kids have physical, behavioural or learning difficulties as a result of the tumour and/or the treatment