The focus of their research was on a particular vascular growth factor, a molecule that regulates the growth of blood vessels, called Placental Growth Factor (PLGF).
Thanks to a research collaboration with Rakesh K. Jain, the director of the EL Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology at Harvard University, the researchers were able to establish in preclinical models of medulloblastoma, i.e. in laboratory research, that blocking PGLF by the antibody TB -403 had therapeutic potential.
This led to a phase I study, led by researchers from the Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital at Massachusetts General Hospital and in collaboration with the VIB-KU Leuven Lab. In such a phase I study, a small group of patients tests whether the drug is safe and well tolerated.
“It goes without saying that the treatment of medulloblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer in children, presents a particularly unmet medical need,” said Professor Carmeliet.
“By building on years of collaborative research on PLGF with my own collaborators and Rakesh Jain and his colleagues, we were able to demonstrate that PLGF plays a role in the disease course of medulloblastoma. Subsequently, we were able to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of blocking PGLF. We hope that current scientific insights will spur further research into advanced treatments to better address this terrible condition.”
–
