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About meduloblastoma

Current treatments for medulloblastoma, which were largely introduced in the 1980s and mostly remain unchanged, rely heavily on cytotoxic and nontargeted methods – such as conventional X-ray radiotherapy, which applies radiation to all tissue surrounding the tumor. Despite advancements, mortality rates for medulloblastoma remain high, and many survivors experience long-term side effects from radiation and cytotoxic chemotherapy, as well as cognitive difficulties, psychological and social problems, and even hormonal deficiencies. These effects may require ongoing support to enhance the quality of life of patients, especially children, who are much more sensitive to the effects of radiotherapy,…

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  The Medulloblastoma Initiative

Medulloblastoma is the most common brain cancer in children and accounts for almost one-fifth of all childhood brain tumors worldwide. However, funding for medulloblastoma research is hard to come by because childhood cancer – any type of cancer – is considered a “rare disease”, as the number of children affected is much smaller compared to the number of adults with cancer. Less research into pediatric cancer means more toxic treatments, more adverse effects, and, in some cases, little chance of survival. And that’s where the MBI’s work comes in.

Articles of Interest

Current studies and future directions for medulloblastoma

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant central nervous system tumor of childhood, comprising a heterogenous group of tumors each with distinct biology, clinical behavior, and prognosis. Long-term survival remains unacceptable, and those who do survive face high late mortality risk, new chronic treatment-related medical conditions, neurocognitive impairments, and poor health-related quality of life. Up-front treatment strategies now integrate molecular subgrouping with standard clinico-radiological factors to more actually risk stratify newly-diagnosed patients. To what extent this new stratification will lead to improvements in treatment outcome will be determined in the coming years.

In the News: Medulloblastoma

Medulloblastoma is an aggressive cancer that usually occurs in the 4th ventricle of the brain – the space where spinal fluid is produced and the route it travels between the brain and spinal column. It is rare, with only about 500 people in the United States diagnosed every year – most of them children. Symptoms of medulloblastomas can include headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and vision changes. This is primarily because it typically occurs in the cerebellum, located at the back of the head.

Medulloblastoma: What patients should know about

Survivorship for medulloblastoma patients involves navigating a range of long-term challenges that can significantly impact quality of life. These challenges stem from the aggressive treatments required to manage the disease, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, which can lead to various physical, cognitive, and psychosocial issues.

Treating Kids' Cancer With Science And A Pocket Full Of Hope

To try to avoid these sorts of problems in future patients, Olson and his colleagues have been working on a substance they call Tumor Paint. It's a molecule that consists of two parts. One is a protein that can go into the bloodstream, and all by itself find a cancerous tumor. The other part is a fluorescent dye, so when a surgeon shines a light on the tumor, it glows. The hope is that painting tumors will allow surgeons to more easily distinguish malignancies from healthy tissue, so that operations can be less invasive, and less damaging.

Blake's brain cancer survival story

Blake was three years old when he was diagnosed with medulloblastoma – a brain tumour. His mum, Llian, tells their story...

I know too well the dilemmas facing Ashya King's parents

My son had the same kind of cancer as Ashya King and we faced similar medical quandaries, but I bless the NHS. In 2010, my son was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, the same childhood brain tumour for which Ashya King's parents are now seeking proton beam therapy in the Czech Republic. He was diagnosed a few months before his 6th birthday. For the next 18 months, I did not leave his side. We quickly developed our own private language – talking in physically close whispers to carve out our world from the rooms full of (often strange) people.

I watched my son die from cancer. Here are the lessons I have learned

The death certificate states who, where, when and why – number nine on the list, cause of death: I (a) medulloblastoma. Medulloblastomas are a group of cancerous brain tumours, the commonest in children, and David, known as DD, was diagnosed with his during October half-term in 2007, aged 11. What his death certificate doesn’t tell you is the quality of his life up to the point of death, his quality of death if you will, because that is a subjective judgment. Many people fortunate enough not to be familiar with death assume all deaths must by definition be “bad”, but as a bereaved granddaughter, daughter and, now, mother, I can tell you that is not true.

Medulloblastoma therapy may get better thanks to ‘key’ technology

The problem with advances in new drugs to treat medulloblastoma is simply the lack of opportunity to test the drugs on tumors with the same characteristics as those found in patients in an actual clinical setting. In short, to have a test for a drug, you first need a tumor to treat.

New medulloblastoma research, what’s going on at the NCI

We start with research into how a specific gene fuels a deadly Group 3 medulloblastoma. The gene is OTX2 and it acts like a control switch but researchers have discovered that this control switch is dysfunctional, and it keeps the cancer stem cells in a permanently ‘on’ position so that the OTX2 gene is perpetually fuelling the medulloblastoma. Researchers then mimicked the effects of decreasing OTX2 with drugs and found targeting this pathway and silencing the OTX2 gene dramatically decreased tumour growth. One study scientist commented, “Understanding how control switches like OTX2 help make medulloblastomas grow offers fresh opportunities to target Group 3 medulloblastoma, prevent progression and spread and decrease the toxicity of therapy for children with this devastating disease.”

New treatment options for kids with treatment-resistant medulloblastoma

There is a wide variance in outcomes for kids with medulloblastoma. Of the four medulloblastoma subgroups, Group 3 tumors have the worst prognosis and high rates of metastasis (spread to other areas of the brain and spine). Patients with Group 3 medulloblastoma are more likely to develop recurrent tumors, which are far more aggressive. Kids whose tumors recur have a five-year survival rate around 10%.

Parents Face Painful Choice In Treating Childhood Cancer

The traditional way to treat medulloblastoma is with surgery, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. One of the worst side effects of this treatment is that children who live can wind up with permanent damage, including learning disabilities, a loss of motor control and, in some children, even mental retardation. This is mainly because of the high doses of radiation to the brain.

Pediatric Brain Tumors: The Fight Against Medulloblastoma

What followed next for Isabella was proton therapy, a treatment that only about half of children with medulloblastoma in the United States receive, Dr. Hall says. “Proton therapy is the best form of radiation therapy for children, because a child’s brain is still growing and their bodies are very vulnerable to radiation,” he says. “Proton therapy sends high-powered beams of protons precisely to the tumor. This significantly spares nearby healthy tissue and reduces side effects from radiation. Studies show that patients who get proton therapy will preserve IQ, memory and reasoning skills, while patients getting traditional radiation therapy have declines in all.”

Proton beam treatment 'cures no more kids than conventional radiotherapy'

Specialists say treatment can be useful for attacking tumours that can be precisely targeted, but not in medulloblastomas like Ashya King's.

Teenage Brain Cancer Survivor Pearce Quesenberry Shares Her Experience

While I am happy to share that 10 years later I am still cancer-free, I’m constantly reminded of what my body endured. I have chronic side effects including back pain, nausea, and fatigue. I have to take hormone-replacement drugs for the rest of my life. My fertility is an issue. I can't enjoy any high-impact activity. I have hearing loss from the radiation and my hair will never grow back. But these challenges are nothing compared to a life that might have been lost.

To understand a childhood brain tumor, researchers turn to single-cell analysis

Investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, alongside others, have revealed the cells of origin for specific subtypes of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. The work also has implications for how medulloblastoma is classified, which may eventually shape clinical care.

What Is Medulloblastoma?

Scientists have learned a great deal about medulloblastoma over the past decade. It was once thought to be the same disease, no matter the patient or what the cells looked like under the microscope. Now we know there are specific types of medulloblastoma that can be diagnosed by looking at the mutations or other genetic changes that are found inside the cancer cells. These discoveries have aided in more streamlined therapies for medulloblastoma, now defined by subgroups. Thanks to these discoveries, treatments have evolved to be subgroup specific as opposed to a “one size fits all” model.

What Is Medulloblastoma? All About Michael Strahan's Daughter Isabella's Diagnosis And Health Updates

As with all forms of cancer, there is a range depending on how advanced the cancer is, where it’s located, and how much it has spread. However, the NCI says that the relative five-year survival rate for medulloblastoma is 72.1 percent.

When brain cancer struck a baseball family, a ‘wonderful’ village sheltered them

“I have still to this day never googled medulloblastoma,” said Cary Rice, his wife. “Because I can’t handle it. And I’m an analytical thinker, too. But if it’s too emotional, I can’t do it.”

Resources

St. Baldrick’s Foundation

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer and donor powered charity committed to supporting the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.

StatPearls

While leukemias are the most common type of malignancy affecting the pediatric population, brain tumors are the most common solid tumors in this population. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children, constituting nearly 20 percent of all pediatric brain tumors. It is categorized as an embryonal neuroepithelial tumor of the cerebellum.

The Morgan Adams Foundation

The Morgan Adams Foundation helps fill the gap between the limited pediatric cancer research dollars available and critical projects that might otherwise go unfunded.