Dr Penelope Brock

Great Ormond Street Hospital
University College London Hospitals
London

Improving treatment for children with cancer

Dr Penelope Brock is a children’s cancer doctor who is researching ways to improve the outcome for her patients. Based at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, she is co-ordinating international clinical trials to find better ways to treat children with the disease.

In the 1960s, around a quarter of children with cancer in the UK survived. Today, three quarters survive and Cancer Research UK is at the heart of this progress. Clinical trials are vital for testing new treatments and helping to save even more lives.

Using the immune system to fight cancer

Dr Brock is leading the UK section of an international trial testing a new treatment for neuroblastoma. This childhood cancer grows from cells ‘left over’ from the development of the nervous system, and often starts in the tummy.

About half of all children with the disease have a more aggressive form called high-risk neuroblastoma, and it’s these patients who are taking part in the trial. The researchers are testing a type of immunotherapy – a treatment that helps the child’s own immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells.

This new approach has been described by Dr Brock as ‘possibly the biggest breakthrough in neuroblastoma for a very long time.’ Her trial will answer the most important question - can this promising treatment save lives?

You can read more about this trial on our Science Update Blog.

Tackling side effects

Dr Brock is working on another trial that aims to reduce side effects of treatment for children with hepatoblastoma, a type of liver cancer. Although most children with the disease are successfully treated, just under two thirds are left with permanent hearing loss as a result of chemotherapy.

Children with hepatoblastoma are on average about 18 months old and haven’t yet learned to speak, so hearing loss can have a big effect on their language development.

Doctors involved in this international trial are investigating whether adding another drug to chemotherapy could prevent this side effect. If the new drug helps, this study could dramatically improve the quality of life for survivors of childhood hepatoblastoma.

You can hear Dr Brock talking about this trial in our Cancer Research UK podcast.

Dr Brock also features in our new TV campaign.