A major Adelaide research project is offering fresh hope for children diagnosed with medulloblastoma, the most common brain tumour in children.
Led by Associate Professor Quenten Schwarz from the Centre for Cancer Biology – an alliance between the University of South Australia and SA Pathology – the project is investigating how medulloblastoma develops in order to find less-invasive treatments for the devastating disease.
“While current therapies can be lifesaving, they are often highly invasive and leave survivors with long-term side effects and disabilities,” A/Prof Schwarz said.
“We’re looking at what goes wrong at a molecular level to cause these tumours. By understanding the problem at its source, we hope to find better ways to treat – or even better would be to prevent the disease.”
This lifesaving work has progressed thanks to a $300,000 grant from The Hospital Research Foundation Group in association with the Vonbri Foundation.
And in a critical breakthrough, A/Prof Schwarz’s team has discovered part of the mechanism through which a key brain signalling pathway (known as Sonic Hedgehog – or SHH) promotes tumour growth.
“We have found that increased activity in this SHH pathway interferes with normal brain cell development, and is a likely mechanism leading to medulloblastoma,” A/Prof Schwarz said.
“Our stem cell modelling has also uncovered critical genes and non-coding RNAs necessary for healthy brain development.
“Some of these non-coding RNAs are altered in medulloblastoma patients, and particular gene combinations may even predict poor outcomes – offering a potential new way to assess disease severity and outcomes.”
These discoveries could lead to earlier diagnosis and more personalised treatments.
A/Prof Schwarz said the team was now using advanced stem cell models to further investigate how these changes cause tumours to form, with the ultimate goal to develop more precise and effective therapies for children facing this devastating cancer.
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