Integration of a Personalized Molecular Targeted Therapy into the Multimodal Treatment of Refractory Childhood Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered Rosettes (ETMR)

Abstract

Embryonal tumor with multilayered rosettes (ETMR) are rare pediatric brain tumors with increased malignant potential. Despite the advances in multimodal treatment schemes the overall 5-year event free survival rates for ETMR are not favorable. Further, therapeutic regimes are limited to a case by case basis due to the limited amount of literature and guidelines available for treating childhood ETMR. We report one patient with refractory ETMR who was successfully treated by implementing a molecular profiling approach which identified the tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib as a viable therapy. Our results suggest that utilizing this precision medicine approach might prove useful in treating patients with refractory ETMR.

Keywords

• Brain tumor
• Pediatric
• Targeted therapy
• Tyrosine-kinase inhibitor