The North of England Children’s Cancer Research fund have been funding research into childhood cancer in Newcastle upon Tyne for over 30 years. These are some of our recent developments:

Clinical Trials

Scientists at Northern Institute for Cancer Research are currently working on clinical trials to develop new therapies to improve survival rates and treatment intensity for patients with Leukaemia.

One area where researchers have had a recent breakthrough following funding from NECCR is in identifying improved treatment options for patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) who are BCR-ABL positive.

ALL is a cancer which occurs commonly in children under the age of 15. The prognosis of patients diagnosed with ALL is generally very good and in children the survival rate is in excess of 90%.

NECCR is researching ways to improve survival rates of a less common form of ALL, known as BCR-ABL, which has poorer treatment outcomes for patients.

An identifying factor of BCR-ABL is the presence of a particular genetic abnormality within the Leukaemia cells known as the Philadelphia chromosome.  The Philadelphia chromosome isn’t inherited and can’t be passed on to your children.

Working in the laboratory scientists funded by NECCR discovered that patients that are BCR-ABL positive have abnormally high levels of a protein called Bc12. This protein prevents tumour cells from being removed or destroyed.

As a result NECCR has obtained a drug which inhibits the function of the protein and tests have shown a large reduction in Leukaemia cells.

The next stage of the research is to start trials in Leukaemia patients. It is hoped in the long term the research will lead to improved treatment options for patients with BCR-ABL positive ALL.

Individualisation of treatment

NECCR has been researching ways to provide individual treatment to children with an aggressive type of brain cancer to ensure the final outcome is as positive as possible.

Over the last 10 years the research team in Newcastle has been working on finding the biological features of a type of brain tumour, called medulloblastomas, the most common malignant brain tumour in children.

The outcome of children with the cancer can be difficult to predict with around 35% of children succumbing to the disease while many surviving patients suffer significant long-term side effects.

The childhood brain tumour programme at Newcastle University, with funding from the NECCR, aims to improve cure rates and the impact of side effects by measuring biomarkers of the cancer in the laboratory which has allowed doctors to predict the course of the disease more accurately.

The ultimate aim is to deliver individualised therapies to each child based on the biology of their tumour.

The findings are now the basis of worldwide clinical trials, which are testing for the first time whether the individualised treatment as a result of this process leads to improved outcomes.

One example of individualised treatment with an improved outcome is Charlotte who at 13-years-old developed neck pain, nausea and vomiting.

An MRI scan at Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle diagnosed her with a malignant brain tumour of the cerebellum. She underwent surgery to remove the tumour and it was confirmed the tumour was a medulloblastoma.

Charlotte had a year of intense treatment. Including radiotherapy of her head and spine daily for six weeks. This was followed by chemotherapy for the rest of the year.

The side effects of the treatment were difficult but she coped well and now at 19-years-old she is free of the disease and is working part time at Kirkley Zoo.

New Therapies

Funding from The NECCR has been fundamental in the discovery of a less aggressive medical approach to treating childhood Leukaemias, the most frequent cancers in children.

Scientists are currently developing ground breaking new medicines which will only attack leukaemic cells reducing the debilitating side effects and sometimes long lasting impact of chemotherapy.

Cure rates for some types of Leukaemia have largely improved in recent years by treatment through optimised combinations of chemotherapy medicines. Some types of Leukaemia are eradicated in 19 out of 20 children.

However, the treatment regimes can be gruelling, caused by the medicines attacking both leukaemic and healthy tissues. The long-term consequences for patients can include impaired heart function and infertility.

The NECCR team are researching new specific therapies which attack only the leukaemic cells, reducing the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy.

They are currently researching the genetic cause of cancer and are concentrating on fusion genes, which are only present in Leukaemia.

These generate fusion proteins like RUNX1/ETO, the most frequent fusion protein in acute myeloid Leukaemia, and MLL/AF4, the most frequent fusion protein in infant Leukaemia, which drive the disease.

The research has found that by removing the fusion proteins the disease dies.

As a result scientists at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research and Dr David Fulton from Newcastle University’s School of Medicine are developing medicines, called ‘magic bullets’ which will prevent the formation of fusion proteins, without affecting other normal proteins.

The aim is to provide a cure without the appalling side effects.