Hopes of cure for childhood cancer as teen’s tumour vanishes
A 13-year-old Belgian boy has become the first in the world to survive a deadly form of brain cancer after his tumour vanished while taking part in a medical trial, creating fresh hope of a cure
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
A teenage boy has become the first person in the world to be cured of the deadliest form of childhood cancer.
Lucas, from Belgium, was just six-years-old when he was diagnosed with brain stem glioma, an aggressive cancer of the brain.
Children with the disease are typically given just nine to 12 months to live after diagnosis.
Lucas was diagnosed shortly after his parents noticed he was having trouble walking in a straight line, France 24 reported.
His doctor, Jacques Grill, remembers having to tell the little boy’s parents that their son had 12 months to live.
However, seven years later, Lucas has turned 13 years old, and has no trace of the tumour left, The Sun reported.
“Lucas beat all the odds (to survive)”, said Dr Jacques, an oncologist and head of the brain tumour program at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Centre in Paris, France.
About 20 Australian children are diagnosed with this type of tumour, called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), each year.
The aggressive brain cancer is considered a terminal diagnosis and sadly, at present most will die from the disease within 12 months of diagnosis.
Radiotherapy treatment could extend a patient’s life by just three months but Lucas and his family decided to travel to France so that he could join the BIOMEDE trial, which was testing potential new drugs for DIPG.
Lucas was given the cancer drug Everolimus, to which he responded extremely well. The tumour vanished.
“Over a series of MRI scans, I watched as the tumour completely disappeared,” Dr Jacques told Agence France-Presse.
Doctors kept him on the treatment until a year and a half ago, when Lucas revealed he was no longer taking the drugs.
“I don’t know of any other case like him in the world,” his doctor said.
HOPE FOR FUTURE CANCER PATIENTS
Seven other children in the trial survived years after being diagnosed, but only Lucas’s tumour completely disappeared.
However, experts think Lucas’s miraculous recovery could hold the key to curing other children in the future.
The reason some tumours responded better to treatments than others was because some cancer cells were more sensitive to medicines, Dr Jacques said.
The researchers have started studying the genetic abnormalities of patients’ tumours. They have also started creating tumour “organoids,” which are masses of cells produced in the lab that mimic a real tumour.
Scientists want to copy the genetic differences of Lucas’s tumour in the organoids they create to see if the organoids can be killed off as effectively as his.
If this is successful, the “next step will be to find a drug that has the same effect on tumour cells as these cellular changes,” said Université d’Évry Val d’Essonne Professor Marie-Anne Debily, in Paris.
While the researchers said they are positive about this new potential cure, they warned that any possible treatment could still be a long way off.
“On average, it takes 10-15 years from the first lead to become a drug – it’s a long and drawn-out process,” Dr Jacques said.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT FUNDS $20M CANCER RESEARCH
Last month, the Australian government answered the pleas of the Sunday Telegraph and Year 4 student Maddy Suy, who is currently battling DIPG, by providing $20 million funding for cancer research.
The $20 million will be made available over seven years through the Medical Research Future Fund for clinical trials and research into new treatments. As part of this program, a new national childhood brain cancer clinical trial consortium will be created.
The news has been a major victory for Maddy, her family, and the children and grieving parents across Australia who have been tirelessly campaigning for funding.
“I am happy the government is helping and supportive,” Maddy said after hearing the news.
“I will continue singing and staying strong to help my friends.”
POLL
GLOSSARY
- brain stem glioma: a tumour growing on the brain stem, which connects the brain to the spinal cord
- tumour: a group of abnormal cells that form a lump or growth
- terminal: a disease that results in death
- radiotherapy: a cancer treatment using beams of intense energy to destroy cancer cells
- genetic abnormalities: mutations in someone’s genes
- consortium: an association of different groups that work together with common goals
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QUICK QUIZ
1. What does DIPG stand for?
2. Why were doctors stunned by Lucas’s recovery?
3. What was the name of the cancer drug he received?
4. What have researchers started to study following Lucas’s cure?
5. How much in cancer research funding has the Australian Government committed to providing?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Future cancer cure
What do you believe this new drug, Everolimus, might mean for the children currently battling brain cancer?
If your family had someone affected by brain cancer, what research and treatment would you like to see available to them?
Why do new drugs and treatments take so long to become available to patients battling the diseases?
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Think of the ways that you and others could raise awareness and fundraise money for more cancer research in the future. Brainstorm three ideas below;
1.
2.
3.
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
BAB it!
Show you have read and understood the article by writing three sentences using the connectives “because’’, “and”, and “but” (BAB). Your sentences can share different facts or opinions, or the same ones but written about in different ways.