Pediatric Brain Tumor Research
Brain tumors in children are the leading cause of deaths from childhood cancer. They are the second most frequent malignancy of childhood and the most common form of solid tumors. The prognosis for children with these central nervous system tumors is poor and, depending on tumor type, has not changed over the past 10 to 20 years. The effects of the tumor and its treatment often affect the quality of the life of the child. In 2000 the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Stroke supported a Progress Review Group on Brain Tumors in adults and children. Expert basic and clinical scientists were assembled as well as patient advocates to identify and prioritize the unmet the scientific needs and opportunities considered critical to the advancement of research in the field of brain tumors.
The "Brain Tumor Progress Review Group" has determined that "on the largest scales, the overriding challenges for research into pediatric brain tumors are to improve outcome for children with a host of different types of brain tumors. The predominant barriers are the relative infrequency of any individual tumor types, the presence of embryonal/primitive tumors that often disseminate to the leptomeniges, and the lack of interest in, focus on, and funding for research on these primitive tumors." Specific challenges associated with improving outcomes for children with pediatric brain tumors and barriers to meeting these challenges are grouped into four categories: tumor biology, epidemiology, treatment, and long-term sequelae.
The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF) has a long history of research funding that includes basic, translational, and clinical research awards. Additionally, the PBTF has funded quality-of-life research. The research programs of the PBTF have grown each year, with greater commitment of funds to support and encourage researchers to enter the field of pediatric brain tumor research. The PBTF has supported collaborative research symposiums such as the Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-Oncology; the Society for Neuro-Oncology; and the International Symposium on Brain Tumor Research and Therapy in an effort to keep the research needs of children with brain tumors in the minds of laboratory, translational and clinical researchers. Today the PBTF is the largest non-governmental funder of pediatric brain tumor research, but we are not satisfied and continue to push forward to increase the quantity and quality of research for pediatric brain tumors.
We hope you will join us in our search for the cause and cure of these tumors that take the lives of children.
