Scientists at The University of Nottingham have isolated three important genes involved in the development of a type of childhood brain cancer. The breakthrough is revealed in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Researchers from the Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre at The University of Nottingham, on behalf of the Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), have found three genes associated with specific characteristics of ependymoma - the third most common form of childhood brain cancer.
Before now, relatively little was known about the underlying biology of this disease. The results of this study provide a more detailed understanding of the genetics behind ependymoma, which could help scientists develop targeted drugs to treat the disease more successfully, and with fewer side effects.
Around 35 children are diagnosed with ependymoma each year in the UK, and around half of these will be under three years old. In total, around 300 children under 15 are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year in the UK.
Overall, three quarters of children with cancer in the UK can be successfully treated, but survival for ependymoma is just 50 per cent. And around half the children who are initially successfully treated will suffer a relapse of the disease.
Lead author Professor Richard Grundy from the Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre at The University of Nottingham, said: "Understanding the biological causes of cancer is vitally important as it will help us to develop drugs that target abnormal genes in cancer cells but not in healthy cells, which is what traditional chemotherapy treatments do. More accurately targeted treatments will cause fewer side-effects than conventional chemotherapy and be more effective. So this is an important finding which we hope will lead to the development of new treatments for ependymoma."