Professor, Division Director, Division of Pediatric Epidemiology & Clinical Research, University of Minnesota
Understanding what causes childhood cancers to occur can have widespread impact—we can determine risk factors, potentially prevent some cancers, and create better ways to diagnose and treat these cancers. The CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative (MCI) is opening and exposing many avenues for new research into these causes, says Dr. Logan Spector, professor and division director of the Division of Pediatric Epidemiology & Clinical Research at University of Minnesota.
“Before now, researchers haven't studied a large enough group of tumor and normal tissue samples using modern methods to analyze their physical traits. This kind of research is so important,” he said. Using medulloblastoma as an example, he stated that, “since MCI draws from the Children’s Oncology Group’s Project:EveryChild, we are able to link to epidemiologic data and conduct the first subtype-aware analyses of risk factors for medulloblastoma and other rare, life-threatening solid tumors.” Beyond this, the tumor whole genome sequencing performed on MCI participant samples has the potential to provide the unique “fingerprint” of each participant’s tumor. This provides insights into the cause of the tumor in addition to how best to treat it.
“I think it's possible that MCI data will lead to precision therapies with patients on trial within 5 years,” said Logan, adding that he looked forward to a future where epidemiologists will enable a great leap forward in our understanding of causes of childhood cancer. With the right data, perhaps that future will come sooner.