Diffuse pontine glioma

Clinical and basic scientists at both Children’s Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are conducting numerous research studies to help clinicians better understand and treat diffuse pontine gliomas.

What is the latest research on diffuse pontine gliomas and malignant gliomas?

Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center is a member of the Pediatric Oncology Therapeutic Experimental Investigators Consortium (POETIC), a collaborative clinical research group offering experimental therapies to patients with relapsed or refractory disease. It is also the New England Phase I Center of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) and the Department of Defense (DOD) Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trial Consortium.

Through these groups, a number of novel therapies are available for children with both newly diagnosed and current brain tumors. Two new protocols include a phase II trial of radiation therapy, cetuximab and irinotecan for children with newly diagnosed malignant glioma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

A second trial for newly diagnosed malignant gliomas is a Phase I gene therapy immunotherapy trial combined with radiation therapy and temozolomide. This combination is toxic to malignant glioma cells and thus stops their growth. More importantly, it can induce an immune response to malignant cells located outside of the tumor's primary site, thus targeting the infiltrative boundary of the tumor that typically results in recurrence.

We are also leading an international phase II clinical trial on the genetics of diffuse pontine glioma. Using advanced surgical techniques, a surgical biopsy of the tumor is performed on participating patients. Samples are then analyzed at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT in order to understand the unique molecular characteristics of each tumor. This research will allow us to tailor treatment to each individual patient and hopefully improve outcomes for children with diffuse pontine glioma.