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Reply to ‘Assembling the brain trust: the multidisciplinary imperative in neuro-oncology’

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 16, pages 522–523 (2019) Cite this article

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We thank Ludmir and colleagues (Ludmir, E. B. et al. Assembling the brain trust: the multidisciplinary imperative in neuro-oncology. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0235-z (2019))1 for their positive comments on our Position Paper (Aldape, K. et al. Challenges to curing primary brain tumours. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0177-5 (2019))2, and we agree entirely that radiation oncology has, and will likely continue to have for many years, a critical role in the treatment of patients with primary brain tumours. In particular, we note the helpful references to newer radiotherapy approaches, such as stereotactic radiosurgery and proton beam therapy, that are advancing the treatment of brain tumours. As noted by Ludmir and colleagues1, a substantial portion of our Position Paper2 is given over to the discussion of radiation oncology.

As stated in our manuscript2, this narrative was composed following a series of international, multidisciplinary meetings, hosted by Cancer Research UK, which engaged many individuals involved in brain tumour research and treatment. It is important to note that our manuscript is a Position Paper and not a Meeting Report. Thus, rather than synthesising the entirety of the discussions that took place during these meetings, it reports the opinions of those authors listed on the paper. The discussions held by the committee did indeed engage radiation oncologists as well as individuals in other disciplines; however, other commitments precluded these individuals from participating in many of the meetings and in the writing of our Position Paper2. Nonetheless, we wish to assure Ludmir and colleagues1 that the entire brain tumour research and treatment community recognizes and values the importance and contribution of radiation oncology to the management of brain tumours. We very much look forward to continuing our interactions with colleagues in this discipline for the good of all patients with these terrible diseases.

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References

  1. Ludmir, E. B. et al. Assembling the brain trust: the multidisciplinary imperative in neuro-oncology. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. https://doi.org/10.1038/10.1038/s41571-019-0235-z (2019).

  2. Aldape, K. et al. Challenges to curing primary brain tumours. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0177-5 (2019).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Kenneth Aldape

  2. CRUK Cambridge Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge, UK

    Kevin M. Brindle & Richard J. Gilbertson

  3. The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK

    Louis Chesler, Rajesh Chopra & Paul Workman

  4. Department of Oncology, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    Amar Gajjar & Giles W. Robinson

  5. Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Mark R. Gilbert

  6. Telethon Kids Institute, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia

    Nicholas Gottardo

  7. Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    David H. Gutmann

  8. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Great Ormond Street, London, UK

    Darren Hargrave

  9. Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Eric C. Holland

  10. Pediatric Glioma Research Group, Hopp Children’s Cancer Center at the NCT Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    David T. W. Jones

  11. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Johanna A. Joyce

  12. Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

    Pamela Kearns

  13. Dana-Farber Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorder’s Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Mark W. Kieran

  14. Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Department of Neurology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Ingo K. Mellinghoff

  15. Oncology, AstraZeneca IMED Biotech Unit, Boston, MA, USA

    Melinda Merchant

  16. Division of Pediatric Oncology, Hopp Children’s Cancer Center at the NCT Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Stefan M. Pfister

  17. Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre and Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Steven M. Pollard

  18. Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Vijay Ramaswamy

  19. Division of Regenerative Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Jeremy N. Rich

  20. Department of Pediatrics, University of Cambridge and Wellcome Trust-MRC Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, UK

    David H. Rowitch

  21. The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumour Center, Duke Cancer Center, Durham, NC, USA

    John H. Sampson

  22. The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre, and Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Michael D. Taylor

  23. CRUK Cambridge Institute and Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK

    Richard J. Gilbertson

Authors
  1. Kenneth Aldape
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  2. Kevin M. Brindle
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  3. Louis Chesler
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  4. Rajesh Chopra
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  5. Amar Gajjar
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  6. Mark R. Gilbert
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  7. Nicholas Gottardo
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  8. David H. Gutmann
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  9. Darren Hargrave
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  10. Eric C. Holland
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  11. David T. W. Jones
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  13. Pamela Kearns
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  14. Mark W. Kieran
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  15. Ingo K. Mellinghoff
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  16. Melinda Merchant
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  17. Stefan M. Pfister
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  18. Steven M. Pollard
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  19. Vijay Ramaswamy
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  20. Jeremy N. Rich
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  21. Giles W. Robinson
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  22. David H. Rowitch
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  23. John H. Sampson
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  24. Michael D. Taylor
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  25. Paul Workman
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  26. Richard J. Gilbertson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard J. Gilbertson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

P.W. and R.C. are employees of The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), which has a commercial interest in a range of drug targets. The ICR operates a Rewards to Inventors scheme whereby employees of the ICR may receive financial benefit following commercial licensing of a project. P.W. is a consultant and/or scientific advisory board member for NextechInvest, Storm Therapeutics, Astex Pharmaceuticals and CV6 and holds stock in Chroma Therapeutics, NextInvest and Storm Therapeutics; he is also a Non-Executive Director of Storm Therapeutics and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust and a Director of the non-profit Chemical Probes Portal. R.C. is an adviser to Syncona Limited and holds equity in Celgene Corporation, e-Therapeutics and Monte Rosa Therapeutics. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Aldape, K., Brindle, K.M., Chesler, L. et al. Reply to ‘Assembling the brain trust: the multidisciplinary imperative in neuro-oncology’. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 16, 522–523 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0236-y

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