Evaluating a new antibody-based targeted treatment for medulloblastoma

The challenge

Despite advancements in treatments (like surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy), survival rates for medulloblastoma brain tumours have plateaued below 70%. Even when treatment is successful, survivors are left with severe neurological, life-altering side effects. Following standard treatment, 30% of tumours grow back and are incurable - this is responsible for one in ten childhood cancer deaths. 

Only now are we beginning to understand just how variable this cancer is – the initial tumour, the cancer cells that spread around the body (metastatic cancer), and the tumours that grow back after treatment (recurrent). However, we still don’t have reliable treatments for the metastatic or recurrent disease.

The project

Dr Laura Donovan and her team at the Institute of Child Health aim to assess a new, targeted treatment for medulloblastoma. The treatment combines antibodies with anti-cancer drugs and can recognise cancer cells based on a protein called B7H3. It essentially acts as a ‘biological missile’, by using the antibodies to target cancer cells and deliver the drugs to kill them. This eliminates medulloblastoma cells whilst sparing healthy cells which don’t have the B7H3 protein.

In this project, the researchers will be testing their treatment on lab models. They want to know the best way to administer the treatment, what dose and frequency, and whether it causes any harm to healthy cells. They will also consider whether the anti-B7H3 treatment would be effective when combined with other medulloblastoma treatments. 

The impact

By the end of this project, Dr Donovan hopes to have enough evidence to begin work on bringing the anti-B7H3 treatment to patients. She anticipates that it would be especially promising for patients whose cancer has grown back after treatment, offering hope where there are currently few available options.