Health Disparities of Pediatric Brain Tumors

Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer related death in children. While significant advances have been made in subgrouping tumors of the same diagnosis based on molecular findings, little is known about the differences of tumor biology and the clinical outcomes among racial/ethnic populations. Previous work involving the direct implantation of pediatric brain tumor tissues into the matching locations in the brains of SCID mice has highlighted remarkable differences of tumor take rate between children with different racial/ethnic groups. A recent CDC report also demonstrated an elevated rate of cancer diagnoses in white children (184.4/million) when compared with black children (133.3/million), Indigenous/Alaska native children (146.7/million) and Asian/pacific islander children (144.6/million). All of this combined information has led researchers to hypothesize that the overall responses to treatment may also be affected by the racial/ethnic differences in children with brain tumors. Identifying outcome differences and the underlying mechanisms will aid in improving therapeutics. This project will focus on understanding the survival disparity in pediatric brain tumors among children of different racial/ethnic groups. This work is made possible through access to comprehensive data from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas.