A new and effective combination therapy for children with brain cancer

A new and effective combination therapy for children with brain cancer

Recipient: Professor Brandon Wainwright
Institute: University of Queensland
The Kids' Cancer Project Funding: $91,392 July 2022 – June 2024

Dalwood Wylie Foundation: $30,000
Perpetual Funding: $120,000
Total Funding: $241,392

Brain tumours are the most common cause of disease-related death in Australian children. Standard therapy for medulloblastoma consists of surgery, followed by radiation therapy of the brain and spinal cord, followed by multiple rounds of chemotherapy.  Following this treatment, the overall 5-year survival is around 60% and for those who relapse there is no effective therapy.

 

Despite the advent of powerful genomic and drug discovery technologies overall survival of children with brain cancer has not improved in over 30 years. This project will propose a new treatment paradigm and clinical trial for children with medulloblastoma, a tumour of the cerebellum, which is the most frequent malignant brain tumour of infants and children by determining the optimum combination of radiotherapy and CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy to improve survival of children with malignant brain cancer