Medulloblastoma Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center
What is Medulloblastoma?
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children, that is normally located in the cerebellum, but could rapidly spread to other parts of the brain. The peak age of diagnosis is 6-8 years of age, although medulloblastoma can occur during the first year of life or during adulthood in some individuals. Despite the aggressive tumor treatment including surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiation, a significant proportion of patients with medulloblastoma still succumbs to this disease. Moreover, patients who survive medulloblastoma, often suffer severe side effects of aggressive treatment, such as endocrine disorder and cognitive deficit. More effective and less toxic approaches to treat medulloblastoma are urgently needed. The research in our laboratory has been focused on the investigation of cellular and molecular basis of medulloblastoma growth, aiming to explore normal strategies for medulloblastoma treatment.
What have we found?
Recently we found that many medulloblastoma patients have hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone. Moreover, patients with medulloblastoma also frequently develop hypothyroidism, as a side effect of tumor treatment, particularly after radiotherapy. These observations led us to examine the possible functions of thyroid hormone in medulloblastoma growth. In our preliminary studies, the proliferation of medulloblastoma cells was significantly inhibited by treatment with thyroid hormone, suggesting that thyroid hormone could be used to treat medulloblastoma.
What will we do?
With the support from Bucks County Chapter, we will investigate the correlation between hypothyroidism and tumor progression in patients with medulloblastoma, and examine the efficacy of thyroid hormone in the treatment of medulloblastoma. Our studies will establish, for the first time, that hypothyroidism promotes medulloblastoma growth, proving that management of hypothyroidism is important in patients with medulloblastoma. Moreover, the synthetic thyroid hormone (T3, liothyronine) is a FDA-approved drug. Our studies will pave the way to use thyroid hormone to treat medulloblastoma in clinic.
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