The Texas Children s Cancer Center(TCCC) Brain Tumor Program (BTP) is a multidisciplinary, highly integrated program of clinical and laboratory research dedicated to improving survival rates of children with central nervous system(CNS) tumors. The Program is one of the largest of its kind in the United States, each year evaluating more than 50 children. The BTP is composed of clinical and laboratory investigators whose research encompasses the entire spectrum of pediatric neuro-oncology. They are exceptionally qualified to design, conduct, and monitor clinical trials for children with brain tumors. In national cooperative group clinical research and in numerous studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and private industry, the BTP has led new approaches to the treatment of infants with brain tumors, introduced new agents against brain tumors through Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, and pioneered the use of highly conformal radiation therapy (RT) to decrease toxicity to normal structures surrounding brain tumors. The BTP works closely with the Gene Therapy Program, Molecular Neuro-Oncology Program, and Clinical Pharmacology Group, all within TCCC, to translate advances in laboratory and pre-clinical science to treatment of children with brain tumors. Examples of ongoing clinical trials include those seeking to determine the impact of intrathecal chemotherapy and highly conformal radiation therapy on the survival of infants with brain tumors, the activity of various new agents against leptomeningeal disease, the activity of various agents against malignant glioma, the use of bone marrow transplant for recurrent medulloblastoma, and the efficacy of gene therapy for children with refractory brain tumors. The BTP utilizes the most modern diagnostic neuroimaging modalities and innovative technologies such as functional MR, MR spectroscopy, and 18F imaging. Its neurosurgeons utilize state- of-the-art operating microscopes and guidance systems. RT is delivered through the most technically advanced conformal system. The BTP neuropathologists have complete diagnostic capabilities to classify tumors according to WHO criteria. The BTP maintains a storage bank of tumor specimens for institutional and cooperative group correlative studies. The BTP has an innovative molecular neuro-oncology program that uses high-throughput technologies to study differential gene expression in pediatric brain tumors. BTP investigators are committed to utilizing their resources for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinical Trial Consortium (PBTCTC) studies. The TCCC BTP serves a culturally and ethnically diverse population. It receives considerable research support from Texas Children s Hospital, the largest children s hospital in the United States and from Baylor College of Medicine, one of the top ten medical schools in the country. The unique expertise of the TCCC BTP make it ideally suited to be a Participating Member of the PBTCTC. It offers leadership in the development of new agents, in new uses of sophisticated radiotherapy, and in the application of new approaches to brain tumor therapy.
| Weitzel, Douglas H; Tovmasyan, Artak; Ashcraft, Kathleen A et al. (2015) Radioprotection of the brain white matter by Mn(III) n-Butoxyethylpyridylporphyrin-based superoxide dismutase mimic MnTnBuOE-2-PyP5+. Mol Cancer Ther 14:70-9 |
| Li, Yiting; Dang, Tu Anh; Man, Tsz-Kwong (2012) Plasma proteomic profiling of pediatric osteosarcoma. Methods Mol Biol 818:81-96 |
| Li, Yiting; Dang, Tu Anh; Shen, Jianhe et al. (2006) Identification of a plasma proteomic signature to distinguish pediatric osteosarcoma from benign osteochondroma. Proteomics 6:3426-35 |
| Wong, Kwong-Kwok; Tsang, Yvonne T M; Shen, Jianhe et al. (2004) Allelic imbalance analysis by high-density single-nucleotide polymorphic allele (SNP) array with whole genome amplified DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 32:e69 |
