Tag Archive for: Packer

Roger Packer high fives patient Olivia Enos

Kids’ resilience pushes neurologist to seek better therapies

Roger Packer high fives patient Olivia Enos

“I get strength from kids and families, strength like that shown by Nick and his family,” answered Roger Packer, M.D., when Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert asked how he copes with the stress of seeing children struggling with brain tumors and other neurological problems every day.

Dr. Packer, senior vice president of the Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine at Children’s National Health System, joined Mr. Gilbert and his son, Nick, who was treated for neurofibromatosis at Children’s National, for a panel discussion at the recent Crain’s Health Care Heroes event. The discussion focused on Nick Gilbert, now a college student, and how he has stayed positive while undergoing intense treatments for neurofibromatosis since he was 15 months old.

Dr. Packer met Nick at age 10, when he first came to Children’s National for its world-renowned expertise in neurofibromatosis research and care. After their experiences, the Gilberts generously supported the creation of the Gilbert Family Neurofibromatosis Institute at Children’s National Health System to continue research into new and innovative treatments for the disorder.

Mr. Gilbert credits Dr. Packer with taking on difficult cases and having a positive impact on both Nick and himself. “When other doctors give up on patients, he intervenes with magic and saves lives.”

The reason, according to Dr. Packer, is that kids like Nick “don’t want to give up.” Thankfully, he notes, better tools to treat diseases like cancer and neurofibromatosis have finally arrived. “There are remarkable advances that were not possible five years ago,” he said.

The full session at the Health Care Heroes event was featured in Crain’s Detroit Business.

Catherine-Bollard-SIOP

Advancing cures for pediatric cancer: Highlights from leading Children’s National experts at SIOP 2017

In mid-October 2017, nearly 2,000 clinicians, scientists, nurses, health care professionals and cancer patients and survivors gathered in Washington, D.C., for SIOP 2017, the Annual Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. For four days, attendees heard from world-renowned experts while exchanging ideas and information, all in the name of advancing cures for childhood cancer.

Hosted in the hometown of Children’s National Health System and chaired by Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and Chief of Oncology at Children’s National Health System, more than 20 doctors and nurses from Children’s National made an impact on participants through a series of widely attended sessions and addresses, including:

  • Symposium lecture on the latest approaches in anti-viral T-cell therapy to improve patient outcomes, given by Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B.
  • Keynote lecture on DICER1 mutations in pediatric cancer, given by Ashley Hill, M.D., whose study of a rare childhood lung cancer and gene mutations set the stage for a better understanding of microRNA processing gene mutations in the development of pediatric cancer.
  • Education session on new therapies for sarcomas, led by AeRang Kim, M.D., Ph.D., and Karun Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., sharing research on new approaches for local control of sarcomas, such as surgery, radiation and other ablative measures.
  • Education session on new therapies for gliomas, led by Roger J. Packer, M.D., with presentations on immunotherapy from Eugene Hwang, M.D., and targeted therapy by Lindsay Kilburn, M.D.
  • Podium paper presentation on a new method to measure cancer treatment toxicities as reported by the child by Pamela Hinds, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, as well as an education session on advanced care planning, led by Hinds with a presentation from Maureen E. Lyon, Ph.D.

“These sessions and lectures provided a glimpse into the groundbreaking work by SIOP attendees from around the world,” says Dr. Dome. “Children’s National is proud to play an active role in the development of life-saving treatments for children with cancer and our clinicians look forward to another year of revolutionary developments.”

For more on this year’s SIOP, see the Children’s National press release.

  • Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., addresses a group of international colleagues at a reception at Children’s National.

    Jeffrey Dome SIOP

  • Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., addresses a group of international colleagues at a reception at Children’s National.

    Catherine-Bollard-SIOP

  • Lindsay Kilburn, M.D., engages with peers from around the world at a reception at Children’s National.

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Roger Packer, M.D., elected Pediatric Co-Chair by the National Cancer Institute’s Brain Malignancies Steering Committee

Roger Packer, MD

Roger J. Packer, M.D., Senior Vice President, Center for Neuroscience & Behavioral Health at Children’s National Health System, has been elected by the National Cancer Institute’s Brain Malignancies Steering Committee (BMSC) as the committee’s new Pediatric Co-Chair.

One of 16 steering committees formed in response to the recommendations of the Clinical Trials Working Group mandated by the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB), the BMSC’s goal is to promote the best clinical and translational research for patients with brain cancer by critically reviewing Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trial concepts.

Dr. Packer also directs the Brain Tumor Institute and is principal investigator for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC), formed under the auspices of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He has worked closely with the NCI and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and has served on multiple committees setting the directions for neurologic clinical and basic science research for the future. Much of Dr. Packer’s clinical research has been translational in nature. He has been part of studies evaluating the molecular genetics of childhood and adult neurologic diseases, and has also coordinated the first gene therapy study for children with malignant brain tumors in the U.S.

Exchanging ideas

Exchanging ideas, best practices in China

Exchanging ideas

Physicians from the Children’s National delegation attended the Shanghai Pediatric Innovation Forum in June 2017. Pictured (left to right): Roberta DeBiasi, M.D., Michael Mintz, M.D., Robert Keating, M.D., Lawrence Jung, M.D., Peter Kim, M.D., and Sarah Birch, D.N.P., A.P.R.N.

In late June, a delegation of international pediatric experts from Children’s National Health System journeyed across the world to learn about the practice of pediatric medicine in China and to exchange ideas with colleagues there. Leaders from several of Children’s key specialties joined the delegation, including:

The group, led by Drs. Keating and Gaillard, traveled to China with Children’s Outreach Coordinator John Walsh, whose longtime connections and close familiarity with the pediatric medical community in Hangzhou and Shanghai made the collaboration possible. The team toured several of the largest children’s hospitals in country, including The Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou and Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, connecting with pediatric specialists there.

“Some of the most important parts of this trip were the opportunities to exchange ideas and solidify long term relationships that will allow us to work closely with our peers in China as they develop their pediatric programs. The potential is tremendous for unique collaborations between our teams and theirs for research and the development of clinical care improvements for children,” said Roger Packer, M.D., senior vice president of the Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine, who joined the delegation in Beijing.

A keynote lecture and more at the 3rd China International Forum on Pediatric Development

The delegation also was honored with an invitation to participate in the 3rd China International Forum on Pediatric Development. The forum is one of the largest pediatric focused meetings in the country and is led by all the major children’s hospitals in China, including those in Beijing and Shanghai. Close to 4,000 pediatricians attended the meeting, and presenters included esteemed international leaders in pediatric medicine from around the world.

Dr. Packer delivered one of the opening keynote lectures, entitled, “Translation of molecular advances into care: the challenge ahead for children’s hospitals.” His talk focused on the tremendous promise and significant challenges posed by the latest scientific advances, through the lens of a neurologist.

“Across the world, we are looking at the same challenges: How can we use scientific advances to find better outcomes? How can we financially support the new types of interventions made possible by these molecular biologics insights when they can cost millions of dollars for one patient?”

“There’s palpable excitement that these new developments will give us potential therapies we never dreamed about before, ways to reverse what we initially thought was irreversible brain damage, ways to prevent severe illnesses including brain tumors, but the issue is how to turn this promise into reality. That’s a worldwide issue, not simply a single country’s issue,” he continued.

He also flagged mental health and behavioral health as a crucial, universal challenge in need of addressing on both sides of the Pacific.

The Children’s National delegation, including Drs. DeBiasi, Song, Keating, Gaillard and Packer were also honored to share their insight in a series of specialty-specific breakout sessions at the Forum.

Overall, the long journey opened a dialogue between Children’s National and pediatric care providers in China, paving the way for future discussion about how to learn from each other and collaborate to enhance all institutions involved.

Brain tumor expert from Children’s National speaks at Society for Neuro-Oncology’s scientific meeting and Education Day

Roger Packer

Roger Packer, M.D., Senior Vice President for the Center of Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Brain Tumor Institute at Children’s National Health System, will be speaking at the 21st Annual Meeting and Education Day of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. From November 17-20, 2016, the conference will gather neuro-oncologists, medical oncologists, adult and pediatric neurosurgeons, pediatric neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists, neuropathologists, radiation oncologists, neuropsychologists, and epidemiologists from across the country to discuss the future of neuro-oncology. Dr. Packer will be sharing his expertise in treating neurofibromatosis and pediatric brain tumors. He also will be part of a working group to discuss guidelines for response assessment in PDCT-13 medulloblastoma and other leptomeningeal seeding tumors.

2016 Neurobiology of Disease in Children Symposium: neurofibromatosis features Children’s National expert

Roger Packer, M.D., Senior Vice President for the Center of Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Institute at Children’s National Health System, was an invited speaker at the 2016 Neurobiology of Disease in Children Symposium: Neurofibromatosis (NF). This conference brought together experts from around the world to discuss the newest developments in the understanding and treatment of children with NF. While at the conference, which was held on October 26, 2016, Dr. Packer gave an update of the Department of Defense-sponsored Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trial Consortium. The Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trials Consortium, of which Dr. Packer is the group chair, was established by the Department of Defense Neurofibromatosis Research Program to develop and perform clinical trials for the treatment of NF complications in children and adults.

Read more about the symposium.

Brain Tumor Institute Director Speaks at Coalition against Childhood Cancer Meeting

Roger Packer, MD, Senior Vice President for the Center of Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Brain Tumor Institute at Children’s National Health System, was an invited speaker at the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer meeting at Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory on October 31 and November 1, 2016. This international conference was a unique collaborative effort between multiple foundations, the National Cancer Institute, and industry experts to develop a new path forward for the treatment of childhood cancer. Dr. Packer spoke on “Pediatric Brain Tumors: Where Are We Now” and shared his expertise in treating pediatric brain tumors and what he hopes the future of pediatric brain tumor research will look like. Pediatric brain tumors recently surpassed leukemia as the most deadly form of childhood cancer.

Dr. Roger Packer

New brain tumor research collaborative taps Children’s for scientific director

Dr. Roger Packer

This year, more than 4,600 children and adolescents (0-19 years) will be diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor. Brain tumors have now passed leukemia as the leading cause of pediatric cancer-related deaths. Despite this, there has never been a drug developed specifically to treat pediatric brain tumors and for many pediatric brain tumor-types, no standards of care or effective treatment options exist. In particular, pediatric high-grade gliomas have no standard of care and a very low survival rate.

To combat this, the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), the largest nonprofit dedicated to the brain tumor community in the United States, with its partner, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, as well as several world-renowned experts in the field of pediatric neuro-oncology, announced a new awareness and fundraising campaign to support a major translational research and drug discovery program. The campaign, called “Project Impact: A Campaign to Defeat Pediatric Brain Tumors,” was unveiled at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on Sept. 12. Watch the live streaming replay.

Children’s National brain tumor expert leads the way
The collaborative hopes to improve clinical outcomes for pediatric brain tumor patients and inform the development of the first standard of care for treating pediatric high-grade gliomas, including DIPG – the deadliest of pediatric cancers.

Roger J. Packer, M.D., Senior Vice President of the Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine and Director of Brain Tumor Institute at Children’s National Health System, serves as the Scientific Director of the Defeat Pediatric Brain Tumors Research Collaborative.

“Treatment of pediatric high-grade gliomas has been extremely frustrating with little progress made over the past quarter century,” said Dr. Packer. “New molecular insights provide hope that therapies will be dramatically more effective in the very near future. In the last two years alone we have had great breakthroughs, primarily identifying genes which are critical in development of new pediatric treatments. But we need to maintain forward momentum from discovering the molecular and genetic underpinnings of these tumors, to understanding how these changes drive these tumors, and to ultimately developing effective, biologically precise therapies. This is a major opportunity for the field, patients, and their families.”

Pediatric high-grade gliomas make up to 20 percent of all pediatric brain tumors with roughly 500-1,000 new diagnoses every year. These tumors are WHO Grade III and Grade IV gliomas, including: pediatric glioblastoma (GMB); glioma malignant, NOS; pediatric anaplastic astrocytoma; anaplastic oilgodendroglioma; giant cell glioblastoma; gliosarcoma; and diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG).

David Arons, CEO of the National Brain Tumor Society said, “Researching and developing new treatments for pediatric brain tumors is a particularly challenging task, which faces multiple – but interrelated – barriers that span the research and development spectrum from small patient populations, lack of effective preclinical models, to complex basic biology, regulatory hurdles and economic disincentives. To overcome these complex challenges, and get better treatments to patients, we needed to create an equally sophisticated intervention. We believe that having groups with complementary skills work together in a coordinated effort, sharing data and expertise, and tackling the problem from multiple angles as one team is the starting point for greater and faster progress.”

How the collaborative is set up
The model for the collaborative consists of scientists and researchers who will each lead interrelated “Cores” to work on critical areas of research simultaneously and in concert with one another, encouraging sharing of findings real time. This design allows new findings to quickly move onto the next stage of research without barriers or other typical delays, significantly speeding up the research process.

Dr. Packer said the goal of this research collaboration is to work with pediatric brain tumor researchers from around the world to discover new treatments for children in the next two to three years, instead of the next decade.

Analysis of a progressive diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma: a case report

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What’s Known
Despite multiple clinical trials testing an assortment of new treatments, the survival rate for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) remains abysmal, with most children succumbing to the pediatric brainstem tumor within 12 months of diagnosis. Focal radiation therapy, the primary treatment approach, has not improved overall survival. While the majority of DIPG tumors grow within the brainstem, metastases can occur elsewhere in the brain. Due to recent availability of tissue, new data are emerging about the biologic behavior of tumors, details that could be instrumental in constructing optimal treatment strategies.

What’s New
An otherwise healthy 9-year-old girl developed weakness in the left side of her face; magnetic resonance imagining revealed T2/FLAIR hyperintensity centered within and expanding the pons. Despite various treatments, her pontine lesion increased in size and new metastases were noted. The team led by Children’s National Health System researchers is the first to report comprehensive phenotypic analyses comparing multiple sites in primary and distant tumors. All tumor sites displayed positive staining for the H3K27M mutation, a mutation described in more than two-thirds of DIPGs that may portend a worse overall survival. Persistence of mutational status across multiple metastatic sites is particularly important since the effectiveness of some therapeutic approaches relies on this occurring. mRNA analyses, by contrast, identified a small number of genes in the primary tumor that differed from one metastatic tumor. This divergence implies that a single biopsy analysis for mRNA expression has the potential to be misleading.

Questions for Future Research
Q: Because a small cohort of genes in the girl’s primary tumor were different from genes in portions of the metastatic tumor, would genomic and proteomic analyses provide additional details about this genetic evolution?
Q: How do site-specific differences in mRNA expression affect decisions about which therapies to provide and in which order?

Source: “Histological and Molecular Analysis of a Progressive Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma and Synchronous Metastatic Lesions: A Case Report.” J. Nazarian, G.E. Mason, C.Y. Ho, E. Panditharatna, M. Kambhampati, L.G. Vezina, R.J. Packer, and E.I. Hwang. Published by Oncotarget on June 14, 2016.
researcher using ice bucket in lab

Spatial and temporal homogeneity of driver mutations in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma

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What’s Known
Needle biopsies help to guide diagnosis and targeted therapies for diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), which make up 10 percent to 15 percent of all pediatric brain tumors but carry a median survival of 9 to 12 months. This dismal survival rate compares with a 70 percent chance of children surviving other central nervous system tumors five years post diagnosis. In DIPG, tumors appear in the pons, an area of the brain that houses cranial nerve nuclei. Surgical options are limited. Spatial and temporal tumor heterogeneity is a major obstacle to accurate diagnosis and successful targeted therapy.

What’s New
The team sought to better define DIPG heterogeneity. They analyzed 134 specimens from nine patients and found that H3K27M mutations were ubiquitous in all 41 samples with oncogenic content, and always were associated with at least one partner driver mutation: TP53, PPM1D, ACVR1 or PIK3R1. These H3K27M mutations are the initial oncogenic event in DIPG, writes the research team led by Children’s National Health System. “Driver” mutations, such as H3K27M, are essential to begin and sustain tumor formation. This main driver partnership is maintained throughout the course of the disease, in all cells across the tumor, and as tumors spread throughout the brain. Because homogeneity for main driver mutations persists for the duration of illness, efforts to cure DIPG should be directed at the oncohistone partnership, the authors write. Based on early tumor spread, efforts to cure DIPG should aim for early systemic tumor control, rather focused exclusively on the pons.

Questions for Future Research
Q: If a larger sample size were analyzed, what would it reveal about the true heterogeneity/homogeneity status of DIPGs?
Q: “Accessory” driver mutations are not absolutely essential but do help to further promote and accelerate tumor growth. What is their precise role?

Source: “Spatial and Temporal Homogeneity of Driver Mutations in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma.” H. Nikbakht, E. Panditharatna, L.G. Mikael, R. Li, T. Gayden, M. Osmond, C.Y. Ho, M. Kambhampati, E.I. Hwang, D. Faury, A. Siu, S. Papillon-Cavanagh, D. Bechet, K.L. Ligon, B. Ellezam, W.J. Ingram, C. Stinson, A.S. Moore, K.E. Warren, J. Karamchandani, R.J. Packer, N. Jabado, J. Majewski, and J. Nazarian. Published by Nature Communications on April 6, 2016.

The role of NG2 proteoglycan in glioma

A large number of staffers contribute to the Children's National team effort to unravel the mysteries of DIPG. We photograph a few essential players in Dr. Nazarian's lab.

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What’s Known
Neuron glia antigen-2 (NG2) is a protein expressed by many central nervous system cells during development and differentiation. NG2-expressing oligodendrocyte progenitor cells have been identified as the cells of origin in gliomas, tumors that arise from the brain’s gluey supportive tissue. What’s more, NG2 expression also has been associated with childhood diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) an aggressive tumor that accounts for 10 percent to 20 percent of pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Radiation can prolong survival by a few months, but children diagnosed with DIPG typically survive less than one year.

What’s New
Researchers are searching for appropriate targets and effective drugs that offer some chance of benefit. A team of Children’s National Health System researchers investigated whether NG2 – which plays a critical role in proliferation and development of new blood vessels and promotes tumor infiltration – could be a potential target for cancer treatment. Of the various options, antibody-mediated mechanisms of targeting NG2 are feasible, but the size of antibodies limits their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. “Due to its role in maintaining a pluripotent pool of tumor cells, and its role in tumor migration and infiltration, NG2 provides multiple avenues for developing therapeutics,” the research team concludes. “Moreover, the large extracellular domain of NG2 provides an excellent antigen repertoire for immunotherapeutic interventions. As such, further research is warranted to define the role and expression regulation of NG2 in CNS cancers.”

Questions for Future Research

Q: Because healthy oligodendrocyte progenitor cells are important for the child’s developing brain, how could further characterization of NG2 isoforms help prevent drugs from damaging those beneficial cells?

Q: Could NG2-binding peptides cross the blood-brain barrier to deliver anti-cancer therapies precisely to tumor sites?

Source: “The Role of NG2 Proteoglycan in Glioma.” S. Yadavilli, E.I. Hwang, R. J. Packer, and J. Nazarian. Published by Translational Oncology on February 2016.

Clinicopathology of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma and its redefined genomic and epigenomic landscape

Dr. Nazarian's lab

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What’s Known
Fewer than 150 U.S. children per year are diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), one of the most lethal pediatric central nervous system cancers. Despite an increasing number of experimental therapies tested via clinical trials, more than 95 percent of these children die within two years of diagnosis. Molecular studies have yielded additional insight about DIPG, including that mutations in histone-encoding genes are associated with 70 percent of cases. Understanding mutations that drive tumors and the genomic landscape can help to guide development of targeted therapies.

What’s New: Frequently found genetic alterations prevalent in DIPGs

dipg-gene-mutations-and-biological-consequences

Source: “Clinicopathology of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma and Its Redefined Genomic and Epigenomic Landscape.” E. Panditharatna, K. Yaeger, L.B. Kilburn, R.J. Packer, and J. Nazarian. Published by Cancer Genetics on May 1, 2015.