International Childhood Germ Cell Tumors Training for a Sant Joan de Déu Hospital Investigator

OBJECTIVE

Finding a cure for childhood germ cell tumors in case of relapse, and treatments with less toxicity for affected patients.

RELEVANCE

In the absence of specific treatments for Childhood Germ Cell Tumor, these are treated with adult treatments, which involve great toxicity for children and teenagers, as was the case with Anita. It is imperative to be able to continue research to offer tailor-made treatments for children that will enhance their quality of life and improve current survival rates.

STATUS AND SCOPE

IN DEVELOPMENT

The program is developed at the Sant Joan de Déu hospital.

PROJECT START: 2014

BUDGET

50.000 €

Dr. Jaume Mora, Director of the Developmental Tumors Laboratory at Barcelona's Sant Joan de Déu hospital.

"It remains imperative, of current and total necessity to continue research to find a treatment for the refractory patient."

INTERNATIONAL PEDIATRIC GERM CELL TUMOR RESEARCH PROJECT

The Asociación Anita is embarking on an ambitious international research and training project that will span five years and will be led by a Senior Investigator. This project is in addition to the work already underway on developmental tumors in the research laboratory of the Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona, part of the Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation.

The story of this project originated in 2014 when Anita's parents embarked on a search for a Senior Investigator to collaborate with Dr. James Amatruda in his research on childhood germ cell tumors at the Amatruda Lab in Dallas. Their goal was to find an effective treatment for relapsed cases of these tumors.

This collaboration between Dr. Jaume Mora and his team at the Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation and Dr. James F. Amatruda, together with the group of American researchers specialized in germinal tumors, was born from the case of ANITA, who had been undergoing more than three years of treatments and surgeries without obtaining a definitive solution.

After facing 10 surgeries, 27 cycles of chemotherapy (21 different chemo treatments), 32 radiotherapy sessions, being hospitalized more than 39 times, and undergoing an auto bone marrow transplant; her body could not take any more toxicity and adult treatments.

On December 19, 2014 Anita passed away, without any of the existing protocols and treatments - even to this day - being effective. Anita is and always will be our LIGHT and SOURCE OF INSPIRATION.

Photo: Anita at 5 years old, 2014.

The Senior Investigator search has been an ongoing process, marked by significant setbacks. Despite being close to finding the right candidate in July 2018, the relocation of the Amatruda Lab from Dallas to Los Angeles prevented their addition. A successful request-for-researching-candidates in the journal Nature was interrupted by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, further delaying the search.

In 2023, James Amatruda published the results of his research, recognizing the contribution of the Asociación Anita to the work done at the Sant Joan de Déu hospital in Barcelona on germ cell tumor.

Although an effective treatment for childhood germ cell tumor recurrence has not yet been found during these years of research, Dr. Amatruda and his team have made significant advances in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.

They have identified a set of alterations that could help predict resistance to treatment, although the cause and mechanism of these alterations have yet to be determined in order to know how to stop it. Therefore, it remains imperative, of current and total necessity, to continue research to find a treatment for the refractory patient.

The start of the 2022 Project on the M371 Biomarker and microRNAs has allowed us to cooperate with other state hospitals and the possibility of joining new research at the international level.

We are studying the possibility of incorporating Latin American countries into the microRNA project, and we have been invited to participate in the germ cell tumor committee organized by the Brazilian group, which is part of MaGIC, led by Dr. Luiz Fernando Lopes, from the Hospital de Amor de Barretos.