Brain Tumors
| Disease Background | ||
| Description of Disease | ||
| Who is at Risk? | ||
| National Cancer Institute Dictionary | ||
| Our Research | ||
| Overview of Hutchinson Center Research | ||
Research Highlights
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| Treatment at the SCCA | ||||
| Brain & Nervous System | ||||
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| Survivorship Program | ||||
Disease Background
Description of the DiseaseTumors that begin in brain tissue are known as primary brain tumors. Tumors that develop when cancer spreads to the brain from other types of cancer are called secondary tumors and are not discussed here. Primary brain tumors are classified by the type of tissue in which they begin. The most common brain tumors are gliomas, which begin in the supportive, glial tissue. There are several types of gliomas: astrocytomas, brain stem gliomas, ependymomas, and oligodendrogliomas. Other types of brain tumors include medulloblastomas, meningiomas, schwannomas, craniopharyngiomas, germ cell and pineal region tumors.
Researchers are trying to understand the causes of brain tumors, but currently it is unknown why certain people develop brain tumors and others do not.
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According to the American Cancer Society, about 20,500 children and adults will be diagnosed with malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord in 2007 in the United States. Approximately 12,740 people will die from these cancers. Tumors of the brain and spinal cord account for 1.3 percent of all cancers, and 2.2 percent of all cancer-related deaths in both children and adults.
Researchers are working to understand chemical changes and gene abnormalities believed to trigger brain cancer. Most brain tumors are not linked to any obvious risk factors. Radiation exposure — typically from treatment for other types of cancers — is the only established environmental risk factor known to increase the likelihood of developing a brain tumor. Because brain tumors sometimes occur in several members of the same family, researchers are studying families with a history of brain tumors to see whether heredity is a factor. At this time, scientists do not believe that head injuries cause brain tumors.| [ Back to Top ] |
Our Research
Overview of Hutchinson Center Research
Hutchinson Center researchers are pursing multiple avenues of research into the causes and treatments of brain tumors.
Recent work at the Hutchinson Center is revealing new ways to precisely target brain tumors. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Washington and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Hutchinson Center researchers are developing new imaging methods to see brain tumors during surgery. This work will enable surgeons to more precisely and thoroughly remove brain tumors, which will minimize the likelihood of relapse and of causing damage to healthy brain tissue.
Treatment success rates have improved, yet a number of children still die from these tumors and often the therapy permanently affects many of those who survive. A 2002 joint research project conducted by scientists at the Hutchinson Center and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore showed in the laboratory that a plant chemical called cyclopamine stops medulloblastoma, the most common form of malignant childhood brain cancer. Drugs like cyclopamine, which blocks a specific pathway that is critical for medulloblastoma growth, represent the first step toward the goal of replacing more toxic chemotherapy and radiation treatment with effective, targeted treatments that have fewer side effects.
As a member of the Pediatric Oncology Group, Hutchinson Center physicians are participating in a number of clinical trials aimed at comparing the effectiveness of newer chemotherapy agents as well as different combination chemotherapy regimens in treating children with brain tumors. The goal is to find the most effective treatment with the least harmful effects.
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Developing new treatment approaches for childhood brain cancer
Scientists at the Hutchinson Center and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute recently developed an incredibly precise method to indicate where a tumor begins and ends by illuminating the cancerous cells. The illumination helps surgeons distinguish between healthy brain tissue and tumor cells in the operating room, which gives surgeons a better chance of removing all of the cancerous cells without injuring healthy tissues. This is particularly significant in the brain, where approximately 80 percent of malignant cancers recur at the edges of the surgical site. This method enables physicians to see cancer cells 500 times better than an MRI.
Dr. James Olson's research team also leads a national consortium for preclinical analysis of new compounds for treatment of medulloblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer in children.
The consortium already has demonstrated the effectiveness of retinoids, compounds related to vitamin A, and cyclopamine, a drug derived from the corn lily. Both have been shown to effectively kill or induce programmed cell death (apoptosis) in medulloblastoma tumor cells taken from patient surgical samples and in medulloblastoma cell cultures.
Olson's team has defined the mechanism by which retinoids induce medulloblastoma tumor cell death, providing a basis for understanding why some cells are sensitive to this agent and others are resistant. Based on these findings, the Olson laboratory is developing a national Phase III clinical trial through the Children's Oncology Group to assess the effectiveness of retinoids in children with high-risk medulloblastoma or tumors of the immature cells that develop into nerve tissue (neuroectodermal tumors).
Olson and colleagues in the consortium also are conducting research aimed at understanding how genes control the development of the specialized cells of the brain and central nervous system. Discovering how these genes function normally is the key to developing cures for this devastating group of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases that arise when these genes go awry.
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Relevant Articles
Hutchinson Center Publications- Tumor paint may revolutionize cancer therapy
- Bringing new images to light — developing new shared resource for small-animal imaging is accelerating research on more effective ways to diagnose, treat cancer
- Brain-cancer clues from mice — Vasioukhin lab study identifies mouse gene necessary for normal brain development whose human counterpart may be linked to childhood brain cancer
- Pediatric promise — Research indicates retinoids may offer hope for children at high risk of brain-cancer relapse
- Plant chemical blocks signals that trigger childhood brain cancer, says early research by James Olson, scientists at Johns Hopkins
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