Investigating the Immune Response in Pediatric Glioma Subsets
Email Principal Investigator
Joanna Phillips
CBTN Data
Backer
Private Foundation
About this
Project
The body’s immune response is how the body recognizes and defends itself against what it determines are foreign and harmful substances or microorganisms. Tumors have their own immune response that suppresses the normal body’s immune mechanisms, and different tumors have different types of immune responses. Researchers on this project seek to better understand the tumor-associated immune response in pediatric lower grade glioma. Preliminary analyses of gene expression data in PedCBioPortal demonstrated a robust difference in the factors researchers on this project are interested in. The overall goal of this project is to identify determinants of the immune microenvironment in glioma to better direct and prioritize treatments. Using data made accessible through the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas, researchers can investigate whether these differences are seen in a larger dataset, guiding further research.
Ask The
Scientists
What are the goals of this project?
Researchers will investigate gene expression in pediatric glioma in an effort to better understand the disease.
What is the impact of this project?
Preliminary research has provided researchers with promising leads related to diagnostics and treatment options. This project will deepen this analysis by utilizing a much larger dataset.
Why is the CBTN request important to this project?
The large dataset made available through the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas will allow researchers to continue their investigations.
Specimen Data
The Children's Brain Tumor Network contributed to this project by providing access to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas
Meet The
Team
Schuyler Tong, Bioinformaticians
Institutions
Primary
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital
Joined onThe Pediatric Brain Tumor Center at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, with campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, harnesses the power of world-class experts from all disciplines related to child brain health, including neurology, neurosurgery, neurocritical care, neurogenetics, neuro-oncology, rehab
University of California, San Francisco
related
Histologies
High-Grade Glioma
High-grade Gliomas (HGG) or astrocytomas in children nearly always result in a dismal prognosis. Although novel therapeutic approaches are currently in development, preclinical testing has been limited, due to a lack of pediatric-specific HGG preclinical models. These models are needed to help test
Low-Grade Glioma
Low-Grade Gliomas also called astrocytomas are the most common cancer of the central nervous system in children. They represent a heterogeneous group of tumors that can be discovered anywhere within the brain or spinal cord. Although surgical resection may be curative, up to 20% of children still su