16th International Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (ISPNO) 2014 in Singapore

Experts from all continents met in Singapore (Saturday 28-Jun-14 to Wednesday 2-Jul-14), to discuss advances in clinical aspects of pediatric oncology and report the latest research findings relevant to the field.

Encouraging data were presented by the group from Milan. The showed that re-irradiation of patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) at progression after first line treatment with nimotuzumab, vinorelbine and standard radiotherapy appears to be efficient. Eleven of 12 patients with local relapse were re-irradiated, although representing a specific patient selection, and their survival was better than patients (n=5) with local relapse who were not treated by re-radiation.

Mark Kieran (Boston) reported on a clinical trial, http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01182350, with the aim to estimate the overall survival of children and young adults with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) treated with a molecularly based treatment strategy, compared to historical controls. Based on the molecular characteristics of the tumor, patients are currently treated within this trial by bevacizumab+ irradiation +/- erlotinib (if EGFR over-expressed) +/- temozolomide (if MGMT promoter methylation positive).

During the DIPG symposium the DIPG registries (US, Canadian, European, and Australian) were presented. This will build the basis for future collaborations.

DIPG genomics repository poster presentation at ISPNO 2012

Katy Taylor presenting the #DIPG genomics repository poster at ISPNO, Toronto 2012.

15th International Symposium on Paediatric Neuro-Oncology (ISPNO), Toronto, Canada

#DIPG: The biannual ISPNO meeting is the largest research conference dedicated to childhood brain tumours in the world, and we are pleased to be able to present a poster detailing our work on the DIPG Genomics Repository. If you are attending, please drop by poster number PG-32 on Monday 25th June between 18:15-21:00. Katy Taylor and Chris Jones will be on hand to discuss progress on the Repository and walk researchers through the analytical tools available. Hope to see you in Toronto! Chris Jones

First DIPG genomics data freeze and public release

We are pleased to announce the first public release of data from the International DIPG Genomics Repository. Although collection remains ongoing, we putting an intermediate freeze on the data in order to solicit feedback from the academic community. At the current time we have DNA copy number data for 94 cases of DIPG and 162 cases of non-brain stem paediatric high grade glioma available for analysis and download. We would welcome any comments and suggestions on how to improve the Repository and look forward to working with researchers around the world to make the most of this valuable data.

Chris Jones, Michael Baudis and Andre von Büren.

DIPG Poster for ISPNO Toronto 2012

New PhD student joins Zurich group

Ni Ai, a new PhD student with a Master of Philosophy (Biomedical Engineering) from the University of Hongkong has joined the Zurich group. Besides working on technical aspects and systems biology of genomic data in cancer, Ni's disease specific projects will be centered in the area of childhood brain tumors, specifically DIPG and related entities. She will partially be supported through the grant from the "The Cure Starts Now" foundation.

Michael Baudis

Somatic histone 3 mutations in DIPG

Suzy Baker’s group at St Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, USA, has just published in Nature Genetics the first findings from the whole genome resequencing of DIPG specimens as part of the St Jude / Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. They made the startling discovery that fully 78% of DIPG samples harboured mutations at a key residue in two histone H3 variant genes – H3F3A and HIST1H3B.
Along with a concurrent publication in Nature by the groups of Nada Jabado (Montreal) and Stefan Pfister (Heidelberg) of H3F3A mutations in paediatric non-brainstem high grade glioma, we have the most definitive evidence of the biological distinctiveness of these lesions in the paediatric setting. Most intriguing is the different mutational spectrum in these genes between anatomical sites in children – K27 mutations are more common in DIPG than in supratentorial tumours, whilst G34 mutations were entirely absent from brainstem and thalamic lesions. Further investigating such biological differences remains a key goal of the DIPG Repository.

Chris Jones

SIOP-Europe DIPG Network Meeting, Barcelona, Spain (Thursday 23rd – Friday 24th February 2012)

Clinicians and scientists interested in DIPG across Europe met recently in Barcelona to discuss collaborative efforts to develop clinical trials and biological studies in this terrible disease. Chris Jones and Katy Taylor, a PhD student in his lab focusing on DIPG, attended the meeting and presented on the progress of the DIPG Genomics Repository. There is much enthusiasm for developing this resource given the rarity of the tumour, and we are carrying out a census of DIPG samples, data and ongoing research throughout the continent in order to identify opportunities to work together to speed up progress on a multinational basis.

Chris Jones

DIPG Consensus Conference, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda MD, USA

At a recent retreat organised by Kathy Warren at the NCI, Maryam Fouladi and Chris Jones presented the International DIPG Registry and Genomics Repository to a select group of paediatric neuro-oncologists, neurosurgeons, neuropathologists, neuroradiologists and basic scientists. There was considerable enthusiasm for collecting published (and unpublished) genome-wide data within a single resource in order to allow investigators world-wide the opportunity to probe a large series of these rare tumours in order to better define the molecular alterations driving this disease. We hope this Repository is the first step in accumulating this data and providing such a framework for international collaboration and progress with understanding the underlying biology of DIPG.

The Cure Starts Now Foundation agrees to support the DIPG Genomics Repository

We are pleased to announce that The Cure Starts Now Foundation has approved funding of US$120,000 towards the establishment of an International DIPG Registry, of which the DIPG Genomics Repository will form an integral part. We would like to thanks all those involved in the Consortium for their hard work in putting this together, and in particular Maryam Fouladi, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, for co-ordinating the effort.

Michael Baudis, Andre von Büren, Chris Jones
DIPG Genomics Repository Leads