Projects we fund

Overview

Improving treatments for children’s brain tumours relies on doctors and scientists developing a better understanding of why current treatments fail, or become less effective as tumours progress. In aHGG, the adult tumour, TMZ is the only drug currently known to be effective, and forms part of standard care along with radiotherapy and, sometimes, surgery. But in children, it doesn’t work, and Associate Professor Coyle and her team have been researching the reasons why. One reason may be that prolonged treatment with TMZ may actually cause the tumour to develop into a more aggressive type – so early treatment may not help. This project is looking both at ways to make TMZ more effective and at better ways to deliver the drug directly to the brain tumour without damaging healthy brain tissue surrounding it. One way may be to dissolve new drug versions in artificial cerebral spinal fluid (aCSF), but there are a number of different options and drug formulations which the team needs to explore in the lab before they can get close to clinical trials. In this project, Associate Professor Coyle and her team will be looking at these different options to find the best one to take forward.

Potential impact

We urgently need new and effective treatments for childhood brain tumours, including pHGG, which is an aggressive form of cancer. It is often not possible to remove these tumours through surgery, because of where they occur. Even when surgery is feasible, additional treatment is needed, and surgeons often can’t remove all of the cancerous tissue without damaging the healthy cells around it. This research will help us to match a new and potent drug to a delivery system which is safer for children and suitable and effective for treating pHGG. The team will be focusing on pHGG and DIPG, cancers where there is the most need for new and effective chemotherapy treatments. By finding out more about what happens when we deliver drugs to tumours in different ways, Associate Professor Coyle and her team aim to develop better ways of treating pHGG and DIPG, to save more children’s lives in the future, and give survivors a better quality of life.