In the last decade, the advent of immunotherapies with inhibitors of immune checkpoints, such as anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4, has revolutionized the treatment of advanced or metastatic melanoma. However, the clinical benefit remains limited to a subset of patients. Identifying the patients most likely to benefit from these novel therapies (and avoiding unnecessary toxicity in non-responding patients) is therefore critical. Previous studies found a significant link between the high mutational load of a tumor (TMB) and its response to anti-PD-1 monotherapy, regardless of the histological type of cancer. Unfortunately, TMB measurement is expensive, and requires extensive sequencing...
Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are neural crest-derived tumors of the nervous system that are often inherited and genetically heterogeneous. Genetic screening is recommended for patients and their relatives, and can guide clinical decisions. However, a mutation is not found in all cases. The aims of this proposal are to: 1) to map gene(s) involved in pheochromocytoma, and 2) identify genotype-phenotype correlations in patients with pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma of various genetic origins.
Brain somatic mutations in genes belonging to the mTOR signaling pathway are a frequent cause of cortical malformations, including focal cortical dysplasia or hemimegalencephaly. The present study aims to search for brain somatic mutations in paired blood-brain samples and perform functional validation in children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy
Primary and secondary brain tumors, the leading cause of death from cancer before the age of 35, represent a complex and heterogeneous group of pathologies with a generally poor prognosis. Knowledge of these tumors has made enormous strides thanks to access to biological samples, leading to a much more robust, reliable and precise histo-pronostic classification, but also, increasingly, to the identification of theranostic targets. Despite these advances, there is a real need to refine diagnostic and prognostic classification, identify the biological mechanisms involved in the formation and progression of these pathologies, develop new targeted strategies, and devise...
Primary malignant central nervous system (CNS) tumors are the second most common childhood malignancies. Amongst, medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood and occur primarily in the cerebellum. According to molecular characteristics, medulloblastomas were classified into four subtypes: WNT, SHH, Group3 and Group4 and different prognosis were noticed between subgroups. Several genetic predispositions related to clinical outcome were also discovered and might influence the treatment of medulloblastomas as novel pharmaceutical targets. This study aims to investigate genetic and cellular profiles of pediatric brain malignancies, mostly medulloblastomas,...
Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are a heterogeneous group of lesions derived from cells with the ability to produce hormones that may arise from multiple different organs. Their clinical behavior is quite variable, encompassing both benign lesions and aggressive tumors that invade surrounding and/or distant structures. NENs may also cause serious morbidity due to hormone oversecretion. NENs are among the most frequently inherited human tumors, presenting either isolated or as part of syndromes in which a single patient or family develops multiple tumors. There are also non-inherited changes in the genetic information of the tumor cells that are potential targets for treatment....
The research is aimed at identifying new predisposition genes for endocrine tumours. Our focus initially is on pituitary adenomas including growth hormone-secreting tumors (somatotrophinomas) and prolactin secreting tumours (prolactinomas), but we wish to extend work to other pituitary tumour cases/families. The recruitment process will be as follows. 1. We will recruit patients from our own Endocrine outpatient clinics and inpatient wards. In addition we will ask colleagues in other Endocrinology Departments (or other specialties such as Clinical Genetics,Pathology, General Medicine ) to identify potentially suitable patients with endocrine & pituitary...
Studies have shown that tumors from the same patient may respond very differently to the same therapeutic agents. This study aims to investigate the genetic basis of tumors that respond abnormally well or poorly to therapeutic agents in an effort to understand the fundamental genetic basis of this response. The present protocol seeks to retrospectively perform Exome, next-generation (DNA) sequencing and/or other molecular techniques on tumor samples to identify the genetic basis of a patient's exceptional response to chemotherapy.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and therapeutic activity of GI-101/GI-101A as a single agent or in combination with pembrolizumab, lenvatinib or local radiotherapy (RT) over a range of advanced and/or metastatic solid tumors.
In this study, the invesigators look at how a new MRI technique (called amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST)) can improve treatment for brain tumors through early detection of tumor progression after radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy treatment. An issue with the current treatment for patients with a brain tumor, is the inability to detect tumor progression early. An abnormality is seen on MRI scans taken shortly after treatment with radiotherapy in about 30% of patients. This abnormality may be a sign that radiotherapy treatment has worked well and will disappear on its own after a while. However, an abnormality can also be a sign...