Running with an AIM
The AIM BRAIN PROject is providing every child in Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to access the best and most accurate diagnostic information about their brain tumour. This is used to inform their treatment pathways and optimise their chance of survival.
In Australia, brain tumours are the most common paediatric solid cancer, affecting approximately 200 children each year. Over the past two decades cure rates have stagnated at a level well below that of other paediatric cancers. This lack of progress is highlighted by the fact that in Australia brain cancer now kills more children than any other disease.
Brain cancers have been classified into distinct groups using traditional histologic analysis. However, molecular profiling studies, using DNA methylation patterns and gene panel analysis, have revealed that these groups can be further subdivided, each with individual disease characteristics and outcomes. This additional information helps to confirm the diagnosis provided through traditional pathology analysis, as well as providing extra details which may influence how the cancer is treated.
Since 2017 the AIM BRAIN PROject has provided comprehensive diagnostic information for over 150 Australian and New Zealand children.
Funding from The Robert Connor Dawes Foundation, the Australian Federal Government through Cancer Australia and Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation has enabled ANZCHOG researchers to develop a local molecular profiling platform in Australia. Working with our colleagues in Germany, we have been able to validate our Australian platform, through simultaneous tumour analyses by the Molecular NeuroPathology 2.0 Study (MNP2.0) run at DKFZ (Heidelberg, Germany).
We have now transitioned to utilising only the Australian platform, with all 11 children’s cancer centres across Australia and New Zealand receiving their brain tumour analysis through AIM BRAIN PROject, and closure of the MNP2.0 study.
“We are deeply appreciative of the opportunity provided to us by DKFZ to establish our profiling platform in parallel with their MNP2.0 platform. This has meant that during our establishment and validation phase, we could still offer this world-class diagnostic technology to Australian and New Zealand children. This could not have happened without the support of the AIM BRAIN PROject funders.”
A/Professor Jordan Hansford, AIM BRAIN PROject Co-Chair
Generous support from The Robert Connor Dawes Foundation and Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation wouldn’t be possible without incredible fundraisers, such as Connor’s Run. Now in its 8th year, we are proud to be participating in Robert Connor Dawes Foundation ‘more fun than run’, which has already surpassed its 2019 fundraising total.
For more information regarding Connor’s Run: Click Here
For more information about the AIM BRAIN PROject, please contact ANZCHOG (info@anzchog.org).
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