Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is the fourth most common cancer in children and adolescents. It is a group of malignant diseases of the lymphatic system that can affect all organs, including lymph nodes, bone marrow, lymphatic tissues of the tonsils, spleen, and intestines. Prof Wilhelm Wößmann has researched this cancer at various levels with his "Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma" working group, based at the Research Institute Children's Cancer Centre Hamburg since January 2025. (more…)
Biomedical research is experiencing a rapid increase in high-dimensional molecular data. Prof. Michael Bockmayr and his new working group, “Computational Pediatric Oncology,” at the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg, are developing novel AI methods to evaluate these data for diagnosing and treating childhood cancers.
Personalized treatment approaches are becoming increasingly relevant in pediatric oncology. They rely on a deep and precise characterization of the underlying tumor to optimally adapt the therapy. To this end, clinical, histological, and molecular data must be integrated and evaluated in a standardized manner.
However, analytical methods are often not available for complex research questions. This is where Prof. Bockmayr's works become pivotal: He is developing classification algorithms and novel methods to predict clinically relevant tumor features, such as treatment response. “Data analysis in pediatric oncology is challenging and requires the development of novel methods for specific research questions. It forms a distinct branch of research within pediatric oncology,” explains the scientist, who also works clinically at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).
Previously, he collaborated with Prof. Ulrich Schüller's research group on the molecular characterization of brain tumors, particularly ependymomas and medulloblastomas. He developed bioinformatics methods to identify molecular subtypes and estimate recurrence risks. Additionally, he is investigating AI applications in pathology to improve precision diagnostics. Now returning as a group leader at the Research Institute, he aims to broaden his research scope to include other types of childhood cancers.
Prof. Bockmayr has worked at the UKE since 2017. Prior to this, he studied medicine and mathematics in Berlin and Cambridge and completed his doctorate at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. In 2023, he was appointed assistant professor in medical bioinformatics and AI in pediatric hematology and oncology at the UKE. Since January 2025, his research group has been included in the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg as part of the current growth plan.
More about the Bockmayr research group
As of the beginning of this year, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schüller has taken on the role of Scientific Director at the Research Institute Children’s Cancer Center Hamburg (FI). Under his leadership, pediatric cancer research at the institute will continue to expand, focusing on establishing additional research groups and strengthening collaborations with UKE (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) and other research institutions. (more…)
“Research that works – curing childhood cancer, alleviating long-term effects”: This is the title of the new research report published by the Research Institute at the Children's Cancer Center Hamburg. The report covers 2021-2023 and provides a comprehensive insight into the latest progress in research into childhood cancers. It also presents groundbreaking projects the institute is conducting in cooperation with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and other partners.
The team has achieved significant successes in recent years, such as developing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for leukemias and brain tumors. Another focus was on immuno-oncology, which offers the potential to make cancer therapies more targeted and less invasive.
The report shows the importance of innovative research in increasing the chances of recovery and minimizing long-term side effects for young patients.
The full report is available for download here.
The printed version can be requested at buero@kinderkrebs-hamburg.de.
What role do immune cells play in childhood brain tumors? Dr. Marius Mader and his research group at the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg will address this question starting October. The aim is to manipulate the immune system to fight brain tumors efficiently. The pioneering findings from his time at Stanford University will form the basis for new treatment approaches that will one day be used in the clinic.
In addition to tumor cells, more than half of brain tumors consist of specific immune cells, so-called myeloid cells. Paradoxically, these immune cells do not fight the cancer but protect it from attacks by the immune system and promote its growth. This is relevant for brain tumors, including childhood gliomas, for example.
With his new research group at the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg, Dr. Marius Mader wants to understand better the role myeloid cells play in the development of gliomas. "The overarching goal is to develop novel therapeutic methods based on exchanging and manipulating myeloid cells," says Mader. This should enable the body's immune system to fight the tumor efficiently.
Over the past five and a half years as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in California, USA, Mader and his colleagues have developed protocols for exchanging myeloid cells in the brain. This pioneering work forms the basis for therapeutic concepts that can one day be applied in the clinic. Researchers have shown that exchanging misprogrammed myeloid cells for donor cells works in preclinical disease models of neurometabolic, neurodegenerative, and neuroinflammatory diseases. These are models of diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.
"My interest lies more in translational research than in basic science, i.e., implementing scientific concepts in a way that benefits patients," says Mader. "This requires optimal scientific conditions and a close clinical network, which is given at the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg at the UKE in Hamburg." He is also excited about the existing expertise in childhood cancer: "I'm looking forward to working with my new colleagues and contributing my expertise in a meaningful way." At least in the clinic, he might meet some familiar faces, as Mader already worked as a resident physician in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf before his stay in the USA.
At this year's annual conference of the German Society for Neuropathology and Neuroanatomy (DGNN), Prof. Ulrich Schüller won first prize for his poster on discovering a new type of medulloblastoma. The presentation convinced the jury with its significant findings in neuro-oncology and its relevance for developing targeted treatment approaches.
Medulloblastomas are fast-growing brain tumours that originate in the cerebellum. They are one of the most common malignant brain tumours in children and adolescents. So far, four molecular subtypes have been distinguished: WNT, SHH, group 3 and group 4. The Hamburg-based research team headed by Prof. Schüller and Dr. Alicia Eckhardt has now identified a fifth subtype, which they have provisionally named ‘group 5 medulloblastoma’. The new subtype occurs in both children and adults, with a higher incidence in boys and men than in girls and women.
At the molecular level, group 5 medulloblastomas are characterised, among other things, by a unique DNA methylation pattern and transcriptome. In addition, Schüller's team discovered active molecular signalling pathways in tumour samples that play a crucial role in developing various organ systems and muscle cells. This suggests that group 5 medulloblastomas may contain many immature cells that have not yet fully developed.
‘Our discovery represents a significant step forward on the road to individually tailored therapies,’ Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schüller explains. “This is because, depending on the subtype, the course of the disease and the response to certain forms of therapy can vary greatly.”
Further investigations aim to gain a more precise understanding of the new subtype's cellular origin, genetic characteristics, and clinical features.
Dr Catena Kresbach, a member of Prof. Ulrich Schüller's research group, has been awarded the Werner Rosenthal Prize by the German Society for Neuropathology and Neuroanatomy (DGNN) for publishing an innovative treatment method for children with malignant brain tumour medulloblastoma. The method was developed over several years at the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg.
The Werner Rosenthal Prize is awarded annually by the DGNN to young scientists for the best publication of the past year. Dr Catena Kresbach was awarded the prize for her publication in ‘Neuro-Oncology’ on a promising treatment approach for medulloblastomas. Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumours in children. In some tumours, an important signalling pathway is highly upregulated in the tumour cells – the so-called Sonic Hedgehog signalling pathway (SHH). In her study, the Hamburg-based doctor tested the targeted intraventricular administration of specific SHH inhibitors, which thus inhibit tumour growth.
Intraventricular application means that a drug is administered directly into the ventricles of the brain, which are fluid-filled cavities. This method allows the drug to act directly in the brain without affecting the entire body.
The study, conducted in a mouse model, shows that intraventricular application of SHH inhibitors can cause partial or complete regression of the tumour. The researchers avoided the severe side effects on bone growth that occur when the drug is administered systemically. In addition, the treatment led to a significantly longer symptom-free survival time in mice.
‘This innovative approach could provide a new, less harmful treatment option for children with medulloblastoma,’ says Kresbach.
Direct administration of chemotherapy drugs into the brain via a small access point under the skin is already standard practice in the treatment of medulloblastoma in children. The Hamburg researchers, therefore, believe that it would be possible to use SHH inhibitors in addition to this treatment. This could significantly improve the effectiveness of the therapy while also reducing the need for other highly stressful treatments, such as radiation of the entire brain and spinal cord.
Original publication: Kresbach C, Holst L, Schoof M, et al. Intraventricular SHH inhibition proves efficient in the SHH medulloblastoma mouse model and prevents systemic side effects. Neuro Oncol. 2024;26(4):609-622. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noad191
The European "Fight Kids Cancer" (FKC) program has selected two projects involving researchers from the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg for its 2024 funding round. They will receive funding of approximately 3 million euros. The research projects focus on childhood cancers that are particularly difficult to treat.
One of the grants will support the SOUP research project (Scanning the liquids of pediatric brain tumor patients to personalize treatment). The goal of the project is to develop a reliable, minimally invasive molecular test for brain tumors in children and adolescents that can be used to accurately assess the cancer independently of surgery. The international research team, which includes 14 centers in seven countries, is analyzing genetic material fragments from cerebrospinal fluid. The project is funded by the FKC with 1,998,000 euros.
"My research group has been working for a long time on the diagnosis of brain tumors using cerebrospinal fluid. Now we have succeeded in detecting and analyzing the tiniest amounts of free DNA," says Prof. Ulrich Schüller, head of the Developmental Neurobiology and Pediatric Neurooncology research group at the Research Institute "Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg". The decisive step forward was achieved by so-called nanopore sequencing. This method was used to detect characteristic tumor signatures in cell-free DNA from patients' cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The DNA comes from dead tumor cells in the brain. When they die, their genetic material, the DNA, is released into the cerebrospinal fluid.
The second grant is for the EUROPE project (Exploring unknown relapse origins in pediatric ependymoma). It focuses on the third most common type of malignant brain tumor in children, ependymomas. In the event of a relapse, the chances of survival for affected children have been poor. David Ghasemi is the scientific coordinator of the project. He is a physician at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and a scientist at the Research Institute "Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg" in the Schüller research group as well as at the "Hopp Children's Tumor Center Heidelberg" (KiTZ). Within the framework of EUROPE, studies of tumor material will reveal the cellular mechanisms involved in relapse and identify new vulnerabilities in tumor biology. "We are convinced that the development of new, effective drugs against ependymoma can only succeed if we really understand the biological basis of this complex tumor type. With EUROPE, we want to make a decisive contribution to this," says David Ghasemi. EUROPE is funded with 878,000 euros and involves four centers in Germany and the Netherlands.
Managing Director Wiebke Cramer emphasizes the importance of funding in the context of national and international research cooperation: "The number of childhood cancers is very low. At the same time, they are the patients who lose the most years of life or must live the longest with the late effects of treatment. That is why support for pediatric cancer research is so important. We are pleased to be able to advance research in close collaboration with other research institutions."
"Fight Kids Cancer" is a European program supported by non-profit organizations dedicated to fighting childhood cancer and supporting affected families. It supports transnational early clinical trials and clinical research projects that have the potential to make a lasting difference for children with cancer. Five fundraising organizations have joined forces: Imagine for Margo (France), KickCancer (Belgium), Fondatioun Kriibskrank Kanner (Luxembourg), CRIS (Spain) and Kika (the Netherlands) receive donations from charity events such as charity runs.
Scientific contact
Prof. Ulrich Schüller
Research Institute "Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg
Email: schueller@kinderkrebs-forschung.de
Press Contact
Research Institute "Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg
Building N 63
Martinistr. 52
20251 Hamburg, Germany
Email: presse@kinderkrebs-forschung.de
About the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg
The Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg was founded in 2006 by the Fördergemeinschaft Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg e.V. with donations. At the institute, a multidisciplinary team of around 50 clinically active doctors, scientists, technical assistants, and dedicated employees investigate the molecular mechanisms of cancer development in children in order to develop new approaches for better and more targeted therapies. Donations, sponsorships, and private commitment make the research work possible. The institute is supported by a scientific advisory board and works closely with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the Leibnitz Institute of Virology (LIV). Cooperation with national and international research institutions as well as with clinical patient care at the UKE creates optimal conditions for the successful treatment of children with cancer. Around half of the project costs are covered by competitive third-party funding - including from the German Research Foundation, German Cancer Aid, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the European Union.
About childhood cancer
In Germany, around 2,200 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every year - the most common forms are blood cancers (leukemias), brain tumors, and tumors of the lymphatic tissue. In contrast, carcinomas, which account for more than 90 percent of new cases in adults, are rare. Being diagnosed with cancer is deeply upsetting for families and turns everyday life upside down. Treatment usually lasts for weeks and months. The various forms of therapy are extremely stressful for young patients. Acute side effects are highly likely to occur. Another cause for concern is the increasing number of serious late effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for childhood cancer. In general, thanks to successful research in recent decades, great success has been achieved in the fight against childhood cancers. Today, the diseases are curable in many cases: around 80 percent of all those affected survive. This is a great success when you consider that just a few decades ago, these children had hardly any chance of survival. Nevertheless, too many children still die of cancer today or experience a serious loss of quality of life as a result of the disease or the treatment methods.
They are rare and occur in both the brain and spinal cord of children: Tumors called ependymomas. Three scientists from Prof. Ulrich Schüller's research group at the Research Institute "Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg" have now achieved groundbreaking results that will make it possible to better diagnose and treat these tumors in the future.
Ependymomas account for almost five percent of all tumors of the central nervous system in children. The tumor cells arise from ependymal cells, which line the inner walls of the brain's ventricles and the spinal canal. Effective treatments are currently limited to complete surgical removal of the tumor and radiation therapy. In young children in particular, efforts are made to avoid irradiating the brain in order to avoid permanent damage. Knowledge to better classify these tumors and predict their evolution is essential to make treatment as gentle and effective as possible for each patient.
In the case of spinal ependymoma (SP-EPN), there is now more clarity. Dr. Sina Neyazi has studied these tumors, which occur in the spinal cord, and found that there are two subtypes that progress differently. Subtype A is more likely to recur, meaning the tumor will come back, while subtype B is unlikely to recur. The two subtypes differ at the molecular level. Among other things, certain changes in the genetic material, known as NF2 mutations, occur in the more severe subtype A, while these mutations are not found in subtype B, or only rarely.
Prof. Schüller explains how these new findings translate into clinical practice: "Nobody dies from these spinal cord tumors. But what do I tell the parents after the tumor has been surgically removed? Should they come back in six months, a year, or two years to have their child examined? Or should they assume that the tumor has progressed so well that they only need to come back if symptoms recur?”
With Dr. Neyazi's results, it is now possible to classify the course of the disease much more clearly by molecular analysis of the tumor tissue. Detailed insights into the molecular properties of these tumors are also essential for the development of new treatment strategies.
In her work, Lara Pohl examined 2,023 ependymoma data sets. In doing so, she created a data set that provides reliable information on how certain molecular characteristics affect the progression of the tumor and the survival rate.
The last comparable analysis was performed in 2015, but it included only 500 samples, which meant that some tumor classes were still missing. Pohl was now able to fill in the missing data, verify the findings from that study, and investigate differences between the different subtypes of ependymoma. "Our data are particularly relevant for rare and poorly understood tumor subtypes and apparently benign variants that have higher recurrence rates than previously thought," says Prof. Schüller. The study also revealed new insights into individual tumor subclasses, such as the fact that certain ependymomas, previously thought to occur only in the cerebrum, also occur in the cerebellum.
The raw data from this comprehensive ependymoma analysis is available in full on the Internet for other scientists to download. This has created a valuable resource for further research.
Pohl and her colleagues have also developed a machine-learning model that can be used to predict how the tumor will progress based on certain molecular characteristics of a tumor sample, called the methylation profile. This could lead to the development of a more direct and personalized diagnostic tool for clinical practice.
Posterior fossa ependymoma type A (PF-EPN-A, PFA) often has a poor outcome, with more than half of patients not surviving the disease. They usually occur in young children between the ages of two and five. Swenja Gödicke, like Lara Pohl also a medical student at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), discovered that the cell density within a tumor differs in these ependymomas. A high cell density is associated with a worse course of the tumor.
The differences between areas of high and low cell density in the tumor tissue sections, which are already visible under the microscope, are reflected at the molecular level. For example, chromosomal abnormalities characteristic of this tumor, which indicate a poor prognosis, were more common in cell-dense areas. Tissue samples from relapses, i.e. recurrences of PF-EPN-A, also showed an increased number of cell-dense areas.
The results of Swenja Gödicke show for the first time how important it is for the assessment of this brain tumor to determine the number of cell-dense areas and to perform molecular analyses of these areas.
"With these three studies, we have made valuable new contributions to the classification of ependymomas. They are also the result of many years of reference pathology work in which we receive ependymomas from all over Germany for evaluation in Hamburg," says Prof. Schüller.
Original publications
Neyazi, S., Yamazawa, E., Hack, K. et al. Transcriptomic and epigenetic dissection of spinal ependymoma (SP-EPN) identifies clinically relevant subtypes enriched for tumors with and without NF2 mutation. Acta Neuropathol 147, 22 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-023-02668-9
Pohl, L.C., Leitheiser, M., Obrecht, D. et al. Molecular characteristics and improved survival prediction in a cohort of 2023 ependymomas. Acta Neuropathol 147, 24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-023-02674-x
Gödicke, S., Kresbach, C., Ehlert, M. et al. Clinically relevant molecular hallmarks of PFA ependymomas display intratumoral heterogeneity and correlate with tumor morphology. Acta Neuropathol 147, 23 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-023-02682-x
Scientific contact
Prof. Ulrich Schüller
Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg
Email: schueller@kinderkrebs-forschung.de
Press contact
Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg
Building N 63
Martinistr. 52
20251 Hamburg
Email: presse@kinderkrebs-forschung.de
About the Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg
The Research Institute Children's Cancer Center Hamburg was founded in 2006 by the Fördergemeinschaft Kinderkrebs-Zentrum Hamburg e.V. with donations. At the institute, a multidisciplinary team of around 50 clinically active doctors, scientists, technical assistants, and dedicated employees investigate the molecular mechanisms of cancer development in children in order to develop new approaches for better and more targeted therapies. Donations, sponsorships, and private commitment make the research work possible. The institute is supported by a scientific advisory board and works closely with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the Leibnitz Institute of Virology (LIV). Cooperation with national and international research institutions as well as with clinical patient care at the UKE creates optimal conditions for the successful treatment of children with cancer. Around half of the project costs are covered by competitive third-party funding - including from the German Research Foundation, German Cancer Aid, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the European Union.
About childhood cancer
In Germany, around 2,200 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every year - the most common forms are blood cancers (leukemias), brain tumors, and tumors of the lymphatic tissue. In contrast, carcinomas, which account for more than 90 percent of new cases in adults, are rare. Being diagnosed with cancer is deeply upsetting for families and turns everyday life upside down. Treatment usually lasts for weeks and months. The various forms of therapy are extremely stressful for young patients. Acute side effects are highly likely to occur. Another cause for concern is the increasing number of serious late effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for childhood cancer. In general, thanks to successful research in recent decades, great success has been achieved in the fight against childhood cancers. Today, the diseases are curable in many cases: around 80 percent of all those affected survive. This is a great success when you consider that just a few decades ago, these children had hardly any chance of survival. Nevertheless, too many children still die of cancer today or experience a serious loss of quality of life as a result of the disease or the treatment methods.
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Treating a medulloblastoma requires very intensive multimodal therapy, which includes surgical resection, intensive chemotherapy and, in some cases, radiotherapy. This therapy is very stressful for the children, has numerous side effects and also often leads to serious negative effects on neurocognitive development long after the therapy. Dr. Catena Kresbach from Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schüller's research group has been working intensively with other scientists over the last 4 years on researching an innovative therapeutic approach for medulloblastoma treatment. In a mouse model for childhood medulloblastomas, they investigated the effect of a molecule called vismodegib, which specifically inhibits a signaling pathway that is overactivated in the subgroup of so-called sonic hedgehog medulloblastomas. It is known from previous studies that vismodegib administered orally (as a tablet) achieves very good results in terms of tumor reduction, but causes serious bone side effects in children. Dr. Kresbach and her colleagues were able to show in their recent publication that injecting vismodegib into the cerebrospinal fluid (so-called intraventricular therapy) leads to a significant reduction in the tumor burden. At the same time, intraventricular administration prevented the therapy from having a negative effect on bone growth. Since such intraventricular therapy for children with medulloblastoma is already routinely carried out in the clinic for the chemotherapeutic agent methotrexate, Dr. Kresbach's work forms a valuable basis for treating vismodegib as a future therapy for medulloblastoma in children. The work was recently published in the journal Neuro-Oncology.
