The Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) is a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and the University of Heidelberg (Uni HD).
Queen Máxima, as the namesake of the Princess Máxima Center, attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the three top European institutions for the treatment of childhood cancer. Her attendance underlined the importance of the research centers’ dedication to helping children with cancer across Europe and conveyed her confidence in the success of this collaboration. The signing took place at the Mauritshuis in The Hague in the Netherlands.
Each year, around 21,000 children and adolescents across Europe are diagnosed with cancer. More than one-fifth of them cannot be cured by the current standard therapies and do not survive. Young cancer patients also face significant long-term consequences from treatments: by 2025, Europe is expected to have over 500,000 survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer, more than half of whom will suffer from treatment-related long-term effects.
“Modern cancer therapies with fewer side effects are especially crucial for children and adolescents, even if the overall numbers are much lower than in adults,” says Stefan Pfister, Director of the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Department Head at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and pediatric oncologist at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD). He sees urgent need for action in pediatric oncology and cancer research: “Cure rates for young cancer patients have barely improved over the past 20 to 30 years, partly because there’s no commercial incentive to develop new therapies. Academic research, therefore, leads the way and relies on collaboration and shared resources to build a modern, cross-border pediatric oncology, so that children throughout Europe can access new treatments as quickly as possible.”
At the signing of the alliance in The Hague, the testimony of 17-year-old Evy also highlighted the importance of modern personalized diagnostic and therapeutic options for young cancer patients. Evy was 14 when she was diagnosed with leukemia. After standard therapies were no longer effective for her, she could be enrolled in a clinical trial with a cellular immunotherapy and was able to overcome the illness. She is now an ambassador for T2evolve, an initiative that aims to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and improve access to them. She is also a member of the patient advisory board at the Prinses Máxima Centrum.
The alliance aims to drive forward new treatment approaches in immunotherapy and targeted therapy for children and to establish patient-specific lab models. These allow replication of individual patients’ tumors in the lab, where their responses to specific drugs can be tested in advance. Expanding infrastructure and promoting leading talent in pediatric cancer research are also key priorities. These structures will also support cross-border use of anonymized patient data and tumor samples for research.
“Since founding our alliance, we’ve launched 29 cross-border research and infrastructure projects with a total of 5 million euros that would have stalled over administrative and financial hurdles without this partnership,” explains René Medema, Scientific Director at the Prinses Máxima Centrum. “Among other things, we’re researching new treatments for childhood leukemia, investigating the causes of particularly aggressive solid tumors, and finding ways to reduce the long-term side effects of childhood cancer therapies.”
Cancer in children is comparatively rare, and only through Europe-wide collaboration can enough patients be identified for clinical studies to develop new treatments, emphasize representatives of the three leading pediatric oncology centers.
The recent inclusion of the French Institut Curie as the third center of excellence in “EU CAN KIDS” marks a vital step forward in strengthening European pediatric oncology, says Olivier Delattre, Director of the SIREDO pediatric center at Institut Curie: “As a leading basic research center and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Institut Curie develops cutting-edge strategies for research and treatment for childhood cancers. We’re thrilled to partner with the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg and Prinses Máxima Centrum to create the foundation for the future of pediatric cancer care across borders.”
