Award-Winning Research on Childhood Brain Tumors
Accomplishments in research on the molecular genetics of childhood brain tumors at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have recently been recognized by two separate awards. Dr. Stefan Pfister and Dr. Andrey Korshunov won the Fritz Lampert Award for their work on the analysis of genetic alterations in ependymoma. Dr. Hendrik Witt was distinguished with the AACR-GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Cancer Research Scholar Award for his discovery of epigenetic alterations known as methylation patterns in pilocytic astrocytoma.
Dr. Hendrik Witt
© dkfz.de
The Fritz Lampert Award is an annual award for the best groundbreaking research work in pediatric hematology and oncology in German-Russian speaking countries. The TRANSAID Foundation for Children with Cancer has chosen Dr. Stefan Pfister and Dr. Andrey Korshunov as award winners in 2011. In their research on ependymoma, which is the second most frequent brain tumor in children, the two scientists have discovered characteristic changes in the chromosomes. These individual differences allow very accurate conclusions to be made about disease progression. These results may help to spare young patients various stressful treatments.
The €10,000 award was presented in Moscow on the occasion of the inauguration of the Federal Scientific-Clinical Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology. After a building time of five years, the Russian capital now has one of the largest and most modern pediatric cancer hospitals in Europe. Dr. Pfister is head of the research group on Molecular Genetics of Pediatric Brain Tumors at DKFZ and also works at Heidelberg University Children’s Hospital. For almost ten years now, he has been collaborating with the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery in Moscow. Dr. Korshunov previously worked there, before he joined the Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuropathology of DKFZ and Heidelberg University Hospitals three years ago. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy for young cancer patients who were previously taken care of at the Burdenko Institute will now be performed at the new Center.
Dr. Hendrik Witt, who also works in the research group on Molecular Genetics of Childhood Brain Tumors, has been distinguished by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) this year. He is the winner of the $2,000 AACR-GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Cancer Research Scholar Award. This is an annual award of the AACR to honor young scientists for their clinical research. Witt has identified specific epigenetic changes called methylation patterns in the DNA of pilocytic astrocytoma, which is the most frequent brain tumor in children. The type of methylation facilitates predictions about how the cancer will progress.
Since the risk for many types of cancer increases with age, society rarely notices that every year hundreds of children are affected by brain tumors. Precisely for these young patients, who often have to struggle with the consequences of the tumor and the late effects of aggressive therapy for the rest of their lives, it is particularly important to have individually tailored treatments. This is what makes these two research results so valuable. Their findings about molecular markers which characterize treatment response and, thus, help determine the intensity of required cancer treatment, promote increased survival rates with less late effects.
A picture of Dr. Hendrik Witt being presented the award is available on the Internet at:
http://www.dkfz.de/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/2011/images/Witt-Preisverleihung.jpg
Andrey Korshunov, Hendrik Witt, Thomas Hielscher, Axel Benner, Marc Remke, Marina Ryzhova, Till Milde, Sebastian Bender, Andrea Wittmann, Anna Schöttler, Andreas E. Kulozik, Olaf Witt, Andreas von Deimling, Peter Lichter and Stefan Pfister: Molecular Staging of Intracranial Ependymoma in Children and Adults. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2010 Jul 1; 28(19): 3182-90. Epub 2010 Jun 01. DOI:10.1200/JCO.2009.27.3359
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
