The research focuses on BRAF, a gene known to be commonly affected in low-grade brain tumors called astrocytomas. Researchers studied more than 40 of these pediatric astrocytomas • the most common form of brain cancer in children • and found that five out of seven grade 2-4 astrocytomas with BRAF mutations occurred in combination with a deletion in CDKN2A, another gene associated with cancer. The findings suggest these combined alterations define a subset of pediatric malignant astrocytomas.

According to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, every day, nine children in the U.S. are diagnosed with a brain tumor. Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death from childhood cancer, accounting for 24 percent of cancer-related deaths. Pediatric brain tumors are different from those in adults and are often treated differently.

"A lot of progress has been made in our understanding of adult brain cancers, but we don't know as much about the genetics of pediatric brain cancers, which are the number one cancer killer of children," says Schiffman. "This information sheds new light in an area where little information was known. The ability to recognize unique subsets of tumors based on their genetic make-up could someday lead the way to more individualized treatments for pediatric brain cancers."

Source: University of Utah Health Sciences