We are delighted to announce a vital new research project that could create a new and kinder treatment for medulloblastoma, a childhood brain tumour.
The project, titled ‘Creating a new immunotherapy approach to fight aggressive medulloblastoma’, is funded by families affected by childhood cancer through CCLG’s Special Named Fund programme. Christopher's Fund, Tyler's Superhuman Fund, Faith's Future, Bailey's Little Star Fund, Team Rory and #PearlPower have all contributed to this vital research.
Team Rory was set up in memory of seven-month-old Rory, who passed away due to the toxic effects of medulloblastoma treatment only three months after being diagnosed.
Matt, Rory’s dad, said:
We have to find kinder, more successful treatments for children diagnosed with medulloblastoma. No family should experience the death of their child as we have.
Our hope is that this research will not only improve survival rates, but also find a kinder treatment with fewer life-limiting side effects and a generally more hopeful outlook.
While we wish with all our hearts that Rory could be here, it’s heartening to know that his legacy will endure, and that money raised in his name could make a life-changing difference to other children.
Another of the Special Named Funds supporting Dr Donovan’s project, Tyler's Superhuman Fund, was set up in 2021 by Tyler's parents, Katie and Robert, because they also saw the need for better and safer treatments for childhood brain tumours.
Robert said:
Tyler is doing amazing now and is brave, strong, cheeky, and someone I'm extremely proud of.
But we know that this could have been a totally different story, and so we will try to spread awareness and raise money for research for the rest of our lives.
We’re so happy that we’ve been able to help fund a project into cancerous brain tumours. If this project can help children with medulloblastoma, it would be amazing and so rewarding.
In this project, Dr Laura Donovan from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, is developing a new type of immunotherapy that will give hope to children with medulloblastoma.
Immunotherapy is a kinder treatment that teaches the body's immune cells to identify and destroy cancer cells. Dr Donovan's treatment, called dual CAR-T therapy, is different because it can recognise two different proteins on the surface of cancer cells. This makes it more likely that the immune cells will find and kill medulloblastoma cells.
Dr Donovan said:
We’re excited about the potential for our dual CAR-T cell therapy to provide a new, targeted treatment for children with medulloblastoma, one of the most common aggressive childhood brain tumours.
By targeting two antigens instead of one, we hope to improve the chance of success for this treatment and give patients a better quality of life, both during and after treatment.
Our research will provide the evidence we need to get our treatment into clinical trials, where we can offer hope to children and families affected by this devastating disease.
Ashley Ball-Gamble, CCLG chief executive, said,
This project is a fantastic step forward for medulloblastoma research. We hope that it will result in new treatment options for this hard-to-treat cancer.
That’s why we fund research – to create better and kinder treatments that will change the future for children with cancer.
We’re proud to have funded Dr Donovan’s work, and look forward to seeing the impact it will have on young medulloblastoma patients.