European hospitals to test a strategy for the most common childhood brain tumor

A European consortium will test a new immunotherapy strategy for children and adolescents with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, the most common and one of the deadliest pediatric brain tumors.

Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona will lead the project through its SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona. The Bambino Gesù Hospital in Italy and the Princess Máxima Center in the Netherlands will also recruit patients for the multinational phase I clinical trial.

The tumor develops in a region of the brainstem that controls functions including movement, breathing and swallowing. It spreads quickly through healthy brain tissue, making surgical removal impossible. Conventional cancer treatments have not proved effective. Fewer than 10% of patients survive two years after diagnosis, and fewer than 1% survive five years.

The project, called EPICA-DIPG, will evaluate a multimodal immunotherapy approach while developing complementary tests to monitor the immune response, the amount of disease, safety signals and possible resistance mechanisms. It will also test an academic model for manufacturing and delivering advanced therapy medicines through specialized facilities and sending them to recruitment centers in different countries.

The five-year initiative brings together pediatric oncology centers, research organizations, regulatory experts, health technology specialists, communications partners and patient groups from Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. The project’s clinical director said the trial, monitoring tools, regulatory preparation and delivery model needed to be considered together if the study was to produce useful evidence.

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For a rare pediatric cancer like this, the trial, monitoring tools, regulatory preparation and delivery model must be considered together if the project is to generate useful evidence