A 13-year-old boy suffering from a brain tumor previously considered incurable is now completely cured.
- Although he had been in remission for some time, a 13-year-old boy suffering from an infiltrating glioma of the brain stem is now completely cured.
- Lucas was treated with everolimus and radiotherapy sessions.
- “Lucas’ tumor had an extremely rare mutation which, we believe, made his cells much more sensitive to the drug,” Dr Jacques Grill, pilot of the program at Gustave-Roussy, told AFP.
This is a world first. While he had been in remission for some time, a 13-year-old boy suffering from an infiltrating brainstem glioma is now completely cured.
Appearing almost exclusively in children, infiltrative brainstem glioma is a rare but extremely aggressive form of pediatric cancer. Due to the position of the tumor causing this disease, it is not possible to remove it through an operation, so the average survival time for those affected is only nine to ten months. .
Incurable brain tumor: “Lucas defied all odds”
Originally from Belgium, Lucas was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with the disease. Desperate for help, his parents took him to France where he was included in the BIOMEDE (Biological Medicine for DIPG Eradication) study.
Launched in 2014, this trial aims to compare the effectiveness of three anticancer drugs: erlotinib, everolimus and dasatinib. To do this and before starting treatments, the researchers first extracted a tiny fragment of the tumor from 222 patients using a needle in order to perform a biopsy and analyze the molecular profile of each cancer. This allowed doctors to assign the most appropriate medication to each patient. Lucas was thus treated with everolimus and radiotherapy sessions.
“Lucas defied all odds. I don’t know of any other case like his in the world. During a series of MRIs, I saw the tumor completely disappear, we couldn’t believe our eyes”, declared to AFP Dr Jacques Grill, pilot of the BIOMEDE program at Gustave Roussy. “Lucas’ tumor had an extremely rare mutation that we believe made his cells much more sensitive to the drug,” he explained.
“On average, it takes 10 to 15 years for a first lead like Lucas’ to become a drug – it’s a long and tedious process,” he also warned.
Incurable brain tumor: the hopes brought by Lucas
Nevertheless, “the things that we will deduce from his tumor will surely allow us to treat other cases in the future”, noted on BFMTV Marco Bruschi, postdoctoral specialist in the genomics and oncogenesis of pediatric brain tumors.
“The case of Lucas gives real hope: we will try to reproduce in vitro the alterations that we have identified in his cells”, concludes Marie-Anne Debily, teacher-researcher.
