From the largest world bio-banque in brain tumors to the cryitage of testicular tissue to preserve the fertility of boys, these innovative projects embody a strong promise: cure more, cure better.
The weight of cancer in children: an invisible emergency
In France, 1,800 children under the age of 15 and 440 adolescents aged 15 to 17 are diagnosed each year. Behind these cold figures, upset lives, families plunged into anxiety and a question that too often remains unanswered: how to better treat these cancers, sometimes resistant to current therapies? In five pediatric cancer now has no truly effective treatment.
Understanding, treating, protecting: ways of hope
To change this dark observation, the Cancer League finances several advanced projects. All follow the same common thread: Better understand the causes of tumors to develop new treatments, and finally think of the post-cancer, the quality of life of children healed.
Understand the origins of tumors
Research begins with a fundamental challenge: unravel the mechanisms that trigger and feed these cancers. In Paris, a team was the largest Médulloblastomes global bio-banformidable brain tumors that mainly strike the youngest children. Nearly 400 samples are listed, allowing researchers to map these tumors and locate their flaws to better attack them tomorrow.
In parallel, an unprecedented project is based on … the hen embryo. This model allows reproduce the development of very early cancerssometimes present from fetal life, and to study how they settle down. The objective? Identify new therapies capable of targeting only sick cells, preserving the healthy cells of the child as much as possible.
Find new therapeutic weapons
But understanding is not enough: new treatments are also needed. Some pediatric cancers are dependent on a particular protein, the Netrine-1which acts as a real crutch for cancer cells. Researchers today explore the track of a antibodies capable of blocking this dependence. If the results are confirmed, this could open the way for targeted therapy and much more effective than current chemotherapy, which remain heavy and often aggressive.
Preserve life after illness
Finally, because the challenge is not only to survive cancer but also to live fully after, a last project focuses on the Preservation of fertility of boys. Many young patients are likely to become sterile after treatment. To prevent this intimate tragedy, fragments of testicular tissue taken before puberty are today cryocontred at -196 ° C. Still experimental, this technique opens the hope that one day these children can, once adults, consider becoming parents despite their medical history.
The League, an essential pillar
In 2024, the League invested 6.4 million euros in research on pediatric cancersa record amount, more than a tenth of its research budget. First private financier in this area, it stands out as an essential pillar while public funding decreases.
“”These works all represent an immense hope to respond to the promise that the league has made to young people: cure more and cure better “underlines the organization.