CHOP Research
KRF DONATIONS HELP IN LARGE PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMOR DISCOVERY!
CLICK HERE to read the important letter from Dr. Phillips, the head of Brain Tumor Research at CHOP
This is a general overview of pediatric brain tumors and a look at Dr. Peter Phillips’ role at CHOP. I have had many conversations with Dr. Phillips and he is the doctor/researcher who is guiding me on where our funds can do the most good in the pediatric brain tumor research at CHOP.
Peter C. Phillips, M.D.
Department: Pediatrics
Division: Neurology
Address: 516 Abramson
Philadelphia, PA 19104
RESEARCH SUMMARY
I am the Director of the Neuro-Oncology at Children's Hospital. As a pediatric neuro-oncologist, my major research interest is in exploring new therapeutic approaches to treating children with brain tumors. The incidence of pediatric brain tumors has increased over the past two decades, yet increasingly intensive therapeutic strategies to treat children with brain tumors has not led to major improvements in survival. My research also involves efforts to identify new therapeutic targets for brain tumors treatment. I am investigating several new therapeutic strategies for treating children with brain tumors. These strategies include novel cytotoxic drugs, drug resistance inhibitors, radiosurgery techniques, antiangiogenic agents and new approaches to gene therapy. In addition, my colleagues and I are working to identify the biological characteristics of childhood primitive neuroectodermal tumors that have clinical prognostic significance.
The estimate costs of conducting research for the neuro-oncology research program at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) are as follows:
As per Dr. Phillips:
"The rule of thumb is that each person in research requires about $100,000 per year to conduct research. For our current neuro-oncology research program it is closer to a figure of $10,000 per month. And no one works 40 hour weeks - 50 hours is the minimum."
When asked to give a summary of pediatric brain tumors in August of 2006, Dr. Phillips responded:
"There are over 10 different types of brain tumors. Depending on how many sub-divisions of tumor types you want to make, there are, in fact, more than 200 different types.
The Big 10 in Children are:
- Astrocytomas
- Malignant Gliomas (Anaplastic, Astrocytoma and Gioblastoma)
- Oligodendrogliomas (low and high grade)
- Craniopharyngiomas
- Ependymomas
- Germ Cell Tumors
- Primitive Neuro-Ectodermal Tumors (PNETs)
- Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors
- Chroroid Plexus Papilloma/Carncinoma
- Meningioma
Each of these categories has layers and layers of sub-categories.
As for the number of pediatric brain tumor patients per year, the most accurate figures from SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result, NIH) indicate an annual incidence of 2.9/100,000 children per year. The number 3,000 is based on (1) children age 0 to 15 but not including 15-19 years of age; (2) year 2000 census data on how many children age 0-15 were counted. Based on population growth extrapolation from the rate of increase in the number of children 0-15 years between 1990 and 2000, it is now estimated that there are at least 3,300 children, annually, diagnosed with brain tumor. When you include children 15-19 years of age (who we treat at CHOP) the number is well over 3,500 annually.
Out of the 3,500 it is estimated that 8-12% are brainstem glioma. At CHOP last year, 8.5% of our brain tumor patients had brainstem gliomas. Brain tumors are the largest cause of cancer-related death in children. There are brain tumors that are more common than brainstem gliomas; however, the complexity and intensity of care required for brainstem glioma patients and the degree of disability it causes in these children is disproportionately high compared to the overall number of cases."
Medullablastoma tumors are in the cerebellum and represent 25% of all childhood brain tumors. They are the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Twenty years ago the survival rate for this type of tumor was <50% and today doctors are closing in on a 90% survival rate thanks to 20 years of research.
While low grade astrocytomas are almost as common as medullablastoma surgery can usually be performed. Combined with radiation and long term chemotherapy use, these kids can live a long time.
Janss AJ, Cnaan A., Spilsky A, Levow C, Yao Y, Phillips PC. ; Synergistic cytotoxic effects of camptothecin and topotecan with alkylating agents are drug-specific and dose-dependent in human brain tumor cell lines. Cancer Research, In Press.
Selected Publications
Grotzer MA, Janss AJ, Phillips PC, Trojanowski JQ.; Neurotrophin receptor TrkC predicts good clinical outcome in medulloblastoma and other primitive neuroectodermal brain tumors.Klin Padiatr. 2000 Jul-Aug;212(4):196-9.
Geoerger B, Tang CB, Cesano A, Visonneau S, Marwaha S, Judy KD, Sutton LN, Santoli D, Phillips PC.; Antitumor activity of a human cytotoxic T-cell line (TALL)
The information below was taken from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website:
Large-Scale Genomics Project Will Hunt Genes Behind Common Childhood Diseases
-- Children’s Hospital Goals: Use Gene Knowledge to Guide Therapy, Devise New Tests and Treatments--
Philadelphia, Pa, June 7 – The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is launching an ambitious program to identify the genes responsible for common childhood diseases. Making use of advanced automated technology from the biotechnology company Illumina, Inc., the Hospital's new Center for Applied Genomics will house one of the world's largest programs for genotyping—the process of detecting gene variations, with the aim of linking them to particular illnesses.
The program will focus on some of the most prevalent diseases of childhood – asthma, obesity and diabetes, among others – as well as cancer, all of which are thought to involve the contributions of multiple, interacting genes. The Center's researchers will then work to translate the genetic knowledge into precisely targeted treatments for the diseases in question, customizing treatments to a child's genetic profile.
"We are following a trail blazed by the Human Genome and HapMap Projects, but tailoring our approach to children," said Philip R. Johnson, M.D., chief scientific officer at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "As one of the world's largest and most comprehensive pediatric networks, we have a sizable base of patients and families from which to collect data. This focused effort in genomics reaffirms that we are absolutely committed to finding cures for childhood diseases."
The Human Genome Project compiled the sequence of DNA bases in all 23 chromosomes in the human genome, while the HapMap Project listed haplotypes – blocks of DNA sequences with variations thought to be linked to risks of specific diseases.
Leading the new Center for Applied Genomics is Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., who has returned to Children’s Hospital from deCODE Genetics, Inc., a Reykjavik-based company that has conducted pioneering genomic research on the entire population of Iceland. At deCODE, Dr. Hakonarson was intimately involved in many of the company’s important genome-wide mapping and association studies over the past several years, and served as director of Respiratory, Inflammatory and Pharmacogenomics Research, vice president of Clinical Sciences, and later as vice president of Business Development.
"Our goals for the Center are to generate new diagnostic tests for childhood diseases, to use this diagnostic knowledge to guide physicians to the most appropriate therapies. In addition, we plan to form strategic partnerships with biopharmaceutical companies to develop novel therapeutics," said Dr. Hakonarson.
Tailoring treatments to a patient’s genetic profile represents an era of personalized medicine still in its early stages. Part of the research task ahead, said Dr. Hakonarson, is not only to map gene variants to disease risk, but also to investigate how genes interact with environmental factors.
"We will be tracing the major underlying genetic component of disease-related genes while discovering the biological pathways involved in disease development," Dr. Hakonarson added. "For instance, a specific cholesterol receptor may be dysregulated because of genetics, or the pathway may also be dysregulated because of an unhealthy diet. If we can identify key bottlenecks for dysregulation, we may be able to treat not only the five percent of people with a particular gene variant for a disease, but also the larger percentage who suffer the disease without having that variant."
To accomplish the large-scale genotyping analysis, the Center for Applied Genomics at Children’s Hospital will use the BeadLab, a highly automated laboratory that will be able to process 264 patient samples per day and simultaneously analyze over 550,000 genetic variants for each sample. Developed by San Diego-based Illumina, the genotyping BeadLab will be installed and fully operational at Children’s Hospital by the end of June.
"Once the BeadLab is installed here, we will have one of the largest genotyping projects in the world," said Dr. Hakonarson. "The equipment will be capable of producing approximately 150 million genotypes per day, all extracted from blood samples. Children’s Hospital will be the only pediatric hospital to have this technology entirely at its disposal."
The Center plans to analyze blood samples from over 100,000 children over the next three years. Patients from the Children’s Hospital network will be asked to contribute blood samples. For those who agree, a sophisticated information management system will track the samples and store medical records information in an encrypted form to preserve patient confidentiality. Clinicians will also ask the children’s parents to contribute blood samples and divulge medical information, to strengthen the project’s base of information.
"Our sample size will be large enough to provide great statistical power to our research," added Dr. Hakonarson. "We will be able to characterize genotypes and health conditions over a sizable population of children. This project will help to set the standard for identifying biological links to childhood diseases."
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking second in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.
About Illumina: Illumina (www.illumina.com) develops and markets next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company’s proprietary BeadArray technology – used in leading genomics centers around the world – provides the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility necessary to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. This information will help pave the way to personalized medicine by correlating genetic variation and gene function with particular disease states, enhancing drug discovery, allowing diseases to be detected earlier and more specifically, and permitting better choices of drugs for individual patients. For more information, contact William Craumer, director, Corporate Communications, at (858) 202-4667 or bcraumer@illumina.com
Children's Hospital Oncology Researcher Elected to Institute of Medicine
- Thomas Curran, Ph.D., FRS, is expert in childhood brain cancers -
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent scientist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Thomas Curran, Ph.D., FRS, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Curran has long been a leading researcher in pediatric oncology.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) yesterday announced the election of 65 new members from throughout the United States, in recognition of their major contributions to the advancement of medical sciences, health care and public health. Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the IOM honors professional achievement in the health sciences and serves as a national resource for independent analysis and recommendations on issues related to medicine, biomedical sciences and health. Current members of the Institute elect new members from a slate of candidates nominated for their professional achievement. Dr. Curran is the deputy scientific director of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, one of the nation's largest pediatric research programs. He also is professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, and associate director, Translational Genomics, Penn Genome Frontiers Institute, all at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Curran's research has concentrated on the molecular biology of the brain's growth and development, with the goal of finding new treatments for childhood brain tumors--the focus of his laboratory at Children's Hospital. His work has been supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, as well as the Brain Tumor Society and the Children's Brain Tumor Foundation.
Born in the tiny Scottish village of Addiewell in the U.K., Dr. Curran earned his Ph.D. in Zoology and Anatomy from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories and University College in London, U.K., in 1982. He completed postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute in San Diego before joining Hoffman La Roche as a senior scientist in 1984. Subsequently he moved to the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, rising to the position of Associate Director in 1992.
In 1995, Dr. Curran joined St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as the founding chairman of the Department of Developmental Neurobiology, where he launched a new program in brain tumor research. The research he pioneered at that time is now continuing at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. This work led to the opening of a clinical trial to test a new treatment of the pediatric brain tumor medulloblastoma in January 2009. Dr. Curran has been a resident of center city Philadelphia since joining the staff of Children's Hospital in 2006.
A member of the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals, Dr. Curran has presented hundreds of invited lectures around the world, and has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications. He was ranked fourth in the world among high-impact researchers in molecular biology between 1988 and 1992 by the Institute for Scientific Information, and is currently listed as a Highly Cited Scientist in three distinct fields (neuroscience, molecular biology and genetics, and microbiology). He has served as President of the American Association of Cancer Research and on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the national scientific academy of the United Kingdom.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking second in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.
For more information on brain tumors visit:
