Investigators: Raelene Endersby, Nick Gottardo, Jacqueline Whitehouse, Meegan Howlett, Clara Andradas, Mathew Ancliffe, Courtney George, Hetal Dholaria, Hilary Hii, Brooke Carline, Mani Kuchibhotla, Jacob Byrne
Project description
Medulloblastoma is a metastatic paediatric brain tumour arising in the cerebellum, which also occasionally occurs in adults. It is classified into four major subgroups based on clinical and molecular profiles and current standard of care is to treat patients similarly regardless of classification.
Pineoblastoma is an invasive embryonal brain tumour arising in the pineal gland. Although pineoblastoma and other primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the central nervous system are biologically distinct from medulloblastoma, due to histologic similarities older children with pineoblastoma have been treated with medulloblastoma regimens.
These patients are treated with clinical interventions of surgery, radiotherapy and mutli-agent chemotherapy. Despite intensive treatment, several patients will not survive. For patients that do survive, life-long medical problems that result from the collateral damage of healthy tissue by these treatments negatively impact patient quality of life. More effective therapeutic approaches for these patients are desperately needed. We performed high-throughput drug screens using patienti-derived medulloblastoma and pineoblastoma cells. We are now assessing the most potent drugs in combination with several chemotherapeutics used in medulloblastoma and pineoblastoma therapy: cyclophosphamide, cisplatin and gemcitabine. Treatment benefits, potential toxicity and mechanisms of drug action are studied using cultured cells and orthotopic pre-clinical models.
Collaborators
- Martine Roussel
- Stefan Pfister
- Marcel Kool
- Amar Gajjar
- Giles Robinson
- Clinton Stewart
Partners
- Cancer Australia
- The Kids Cancer Project
- Cancer Council WA
- Cure Brain Cancer Foundation
- Pirate Ship Foundation
- WA Child Health Fund