Neoplasia: An International Journal for Oncology Research (Jan 2023)

The children's brain tumor network (CBTN) - Accelerating research in pediatric central nervous system tumors through collaboration and open science

  • Jena V. Lilly,
  • Jo Lynne Rokita,
  • Jennifer L. Mason,
  • Tatiana Patton,
  • Stephanie Stefankiewiz,
  • David Higgins,
  • Gerri Trooskin,
  • Carina A. Larouci,
  • Kamnaa Arya,
  • Elizabeth Appert,
  • Allison P. Heath,
  • Yuankun Zhu,
  • Miguel A. Brown,
  • Bo Zhang,
  • Bailey K. Farrow,
  • Shannon Robins,
  • Allison M. Morgan,
  • Thinh Q. Nguyen,
  • Elizabeth Frenkel,
  • Kaitlin Lehmann,
  • Emily Drake,
  • Catherine Sullivan,
  • Alexa Plisiewicz,
  • Noel Coleman,
  • Luke Patterson,
  • Mateusz Koptyra,
  • Zeinab Helili,
  • Nicholas Van Kuren,
  • Nathan Young,
  • Meen Chul Kim,
  • Christopher Friedman,
  • Alex Lubneuski,
  • Christopher Blackden,
  • Marti Williams,
  • Valerie Baubet,
  • Lamiya Tauhid,
  • Jamie Galanaugh,
  • Katie Boucher,
  • Heba Ijaz,
  • Kristina A. Cole,
  • Namrata Choudhari,
  • Mariarita Santi,
  • Robert W. Moulder,
  • Jonathan Waller,
  • Whitney Rife,
  • Sharon J. Diskin,
  • Marion Mateos,
  • Donald W. Parsons,
  • Ian F. Pollack,
  • Stewart Goldman,
  • Sarah Leary,
  • Chiara Caporalini,
  • Anna Maria Buccoliero,
  • Mirko Scagnet,
  • David Haussler,
  • Derek Hanson,
  • Ron Firestein,
  • Jason Cain,
  • Joanna J. Phillips,
  • Nalin Gupta,
  • Sabine Mueller,
  • Gerald Grant,
  • Michelle Monje-Deisseroth,
  • Sonia Partap,
  • Jeffrey P. Greenfield,
  • Rintaro Hashizume,
  • Amy Smith,
  • Shida Zhu,
  • James M. Johnston,
  • Jason R. Fangusaro,
  • Matthew Miller,
  • Matthew D. Wood,
  • Sharon Gardner,
  • Claire L. Carter,
  • Laura M. Prolo,
  • Jared Pisapia,
  • Katherine Pehlivan,
  • Andrea Franson,
  • Toba Niazi,
  • Josh Rubin,
  • Mohamed Abdelbaki,
  • David S. Ziegler,
  • Holly B. Lindsay,
  • Ana Guerreiro Stucklin,
  • Nicolas Gerber,
  • Olena M. Vaske,
  • Carolyn Quinsey,
  • Brian R. Rood,
  • Javad Nazarian,
  • Eric Raabe,
  • Eric M. Jackson,
  • Stacie Stapleton,
  • Robert M. Lober,
  • David E. Kram,
  • Carl Koschmann,
  • Phillip B. Storm,
  • Rishi R. Lulla,
  • Michael Prados,
  • Adam C. Resnick,
  • Angela J. Waanders

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35
p. 100846

Abstract

Read online

Pediatric brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related death in children in the United States and contribute a disproportionate number of potential years of life lost compared to adult cancers. Moreover, survivors frequently suffer long-term side effects, including secondary cancers. The Children's Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) is a multi-institutional international clinical research consortium created to advance therapeutic development through the collection and rapid distribution of biospecimens and data via open-science research platforms for real-time access and use by the global research community. The CBTN's 32 member institutions utilize a shared regulatory governance architecture at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to accelerate and maximize the use of biospecimens and data. As of August 2022, CBTN has enrolled over 4700 subjects, over 1500 parents, and collected over 65,000 biospecimen aliquots for research. Additionally, over 80 preclinical models have been developed from collected tumors. Multi-omic data for over 1000 tumors and germline material are currently available with data generation for > 5000 samples underway. To our knowledge, CBTN provides the largest open-access pediatric brain tumor multi-omic dataset annotated with longitudinal clinical and outcome data, imaging, associated biospecimens, child-parent genomic pedigrees, and in vivo and in vitro preclinical models. Empowered by NIH-supported platforms such as the Kids First Data Resource and the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, the CBTN continues to expand the resources needed for scientists to accelerate translational impact for improved outcomes and quality of life for children with brain and spinal cord tumors.

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