Brain Tumors

• Primary brain tumors form in brain tissue because of abnormal cell growth and can occur in several different forms.
  
  
• 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 begin in other regions of the brain.
  
  
• In rare cases, cancer cells may break away from a malignant brain tumor and spread to other parts of the brain, to the spinal cord, or to other parts of the body.

Identifying childhood brain cancer's causes – Dr. Valeri Vasioukhin and colleagues have discovered that a gene in mice that is necessary for normal brain development may also contribute to the most common form of primary brain tumors in children. Known as lethal giant larvae 1, or Lgl1, the gene was found to play a critical role in shaping cell behavior during embryonic brain development. Learn more »

Engineering stem cells to treat brain tumors – Dr. Hans-Peter Kiem and colleagues have developed a way to extract a brain cancer patient's blood stem cells and insert a special "resistance" gene designed to protect them from damage by common chemotherapy drugs, such as temozolomide and BCNU. An infusion of these enhanced cells could give new hope to patients with the most aggressive form of brain cancer—glioblastoma—which is very difficult to treat. An ongoing study investigates a dose-intensified treatment regimen of temozolomide in combination with the transplantation of such chemoprotected stem cells.


Targeting tumors with "paint" in the operating room – Dr. James Olson, his colleagues from the Hutchinson Center and researchers from Seattle Children's have developed a tumor "paint." Derived from scorpions, the paint has been shown to help surgeons remove all cancerous cells without damaging surrounding normal tissue. Before this discovery, there was no way to allow surgeons to see tumors during an operation. The technique is in the late stages of testing and could be in operating rooms soon. Learn more »


Boosting the effectiveness of brain tumor drugs – Drs. Patrick Paddison and Olson are searching for new targets for therapies that increase the effectiveness of anticancer drugs currently in clinical trials. Employing a new technology now available at the Hutchinson Center called RNA interference, Paddison's group is identifying genetic nodes that can be shut off to make brain tumor cells more sensitive to existing treatments.


Collaborating to treat glioblastoma – The Olson laboratory is collaborating with Dr. Patrick Paddison who has discovered a method for evaluating whether each gene in the genome kills cancer cells while sparing normal neural stem cells. The team has identified two novel targets that killed glioblastoma cells while sparing neural stem cells. Now the Hutchinson Center is working with a team of international laboratories, the National Institutes of Health, two pharmaceutical companies and a leading children's cancer hospital to identify drugs that affect the targets identified.


Developing therapies for untreated tumors – Traditionally, patients with a rare form of brain cancer known as supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (sPNETs) have been grouped with patients suffering from another, more common malignant brain tumor: medulloblastoma. Although both brain tumors are treated with the same drug, survival rates in patients with sPNETs have not improved. The Olson laboratory, in partnership with researchers from Seattle Children's, are leading the effort to identify current drugs that may be effective in treating sPNETs. Several drugs and combinations are currently being tested in pre-clinical models.


Innovation in drug delivery – The Olson laboratory has invented the porous needle array technology, which allows investigators to inject multiple drugs into a single solid tumor. Dr. Olson's lab is using the technology to identify and prioritize drug combinations for pediatric brain tumor patients while pharmaceutical companies are using it to identify drugs that are more effective in combination than individually. The technology is being commercialized by Seattle-based Presage Biosciences.


Using old drugs in news ways – Hutchinson Center researchers have created the world's first patient-derived models for this solid tumor. After screening more than 700 possible targets for treatment, seven targets were identified for which drugs already exist. Those candidates are now beginning mouse studies with human clinical trials that are expected to launch within three years.

Childhood brain tumors

Natural treatments – Dr. Olson, Hutchinson Center colleagues and researchers at Johns Hopkis University School of Medicine have shown that a plant chemical known as cyclopamine stops the growth of the most common form of malignant childhood brain cancer, called medulloblastoma. These drugs block a specific pathway that is critical for medulloblastoma growth. They represent a first step toward the goal of replacing more toxic therapies. Learn more »

Select treatment for Medulloblastoma – Hutchinson Center investigators recently completed a study that identified a drug known as IPI-926 that increases the survival of mice with medulloblastoma tumors five-fold in the absence of chemotherapy and radiation. Investigators also discovered the drug is only effective in 15 to 20 percent of patients with mutations of a specific pathway in the brain. These discoveries will influence the design of future national clinical trials of IPI-926.

Vitamin A – Olson and colleagues also found that drugs derived from vitamin A—known as retinoids—may be highly effective and minimally toxic treatments for medulloblastoma. Learn more »