Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in the treatment of MYC amplified Medulloblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer that affects children.
In collaboration with the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) University Hospital Dusseldorf, the team at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus found that a combination of two drugs, tacedinaline and anti-CD47, may offer a better prognosis for children diagnosed with this form of cancer.
The study, led by Siddhartha Mitra, PhD, assistant professor of Hematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, found that the oncogene MYC, which is amplified in these tumors, makes them susceptible to recurrence and spreads to other areas of the brain and down the spine. The five-year survival rate for this type of cancer is less than 45%.
The team found that the drug tacedinaline unblocks pathways in the immune system that prevent macrophages from consuming the tumor, while anti-CD47 makes the tumor more attractive to the macrophages. Mitra explains, “You are essentially harnessing the body’s own immune system by giving it a jumpstart, much like a medical version of PacMan.”
This is the first time pathway immune evasion pathways have been targeted in these types of devastating brain tumors and could potentially minimize the negative impacts of traditional cancer treatment in children and give patients diagnosed with MYC amplified Medulloblastoma a better chance at survival.
The next step is to conduct a clinical trial to determine the short and long-term effects of this treatment. The Mitra lab, along with the Labs of Dr Sujatha Venkatraman and Professor Rajeev Vibhakar from CU-Anschutz, were also involved in this research.