Investigating the Immune Response in Pediatric Glioma Subsets

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.