Blue Skye Thinking has a Research Breakthrough!
In 2021, at the height of the pandemic, Blue Skye Thinking and another parent-led charity called Little Hero partnered with CwCUK to fund a focused research programme into medulloblastoma called INSTINCT MB. This 5-year programme, led by Professor Steve Clifford from Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, aimed to discover more targeted treatments for children, leading to improved survival, less severe long-term side effects and an improved quality of life.
At the time, with lockdown, charity fundraising had been severely impacted and many important research programmes were struggling to get funding. The concern was felt keenly by many in the community, as not only does this delay life-saving research for a particular trial where a lot of preparation and planning has been invested, but it can also lead to specialist researchers being driven to seek alternative work, reducing the outcomes for so many areas of brain tumour research. After a number of discussions, due to the flexibility of our two smaller charities, Blue Skye Thinking and Little Hero were able to provide the first year of funding that allowed the INSTINCT MB programme to launch, with CwCUK in place to fund the subsequent years.
I am really pleased to announce today that researchers funded by Blue Skye Thinking have made their first significant discovery on the aggressive Group 3 variety with an MYC gene expression. This is nearly incurable using current therapies. The team have identified a key dependency in this type of medulloblastoma on a critical metabolic pathway for their growth and development. They have demonstrated that when this pathway is targeted using PHGDH inhibitor drugs in experimental models it can significantly slow tumour growth.
It is hoped that this will be the platform for the development of new therapies to effectively target this high-risk cancer and improve outcomes for one of the biggest causes of childhood cancer deaths.
This could not have been possible without the dedication and support of Blue Skye Thinking's supporters. Thank you so much!
https://www.blueskyethinking.org/blog/watch-bbc-south-today-tonight-at-6pm