Pediatric brain tumors are the most lethal kind of childhood cancer, with current treatment modalities unable to cure many children, and the toxicity of many therapies causing chronic long term challenges. However, with a recent surge in biological insights into various CNS cancers, diagnostic and therapeutic tools have refined our understanding and led to unprecedented new diagnostic classes and treatment considerations.

This Research Topic will focus on many of the most critical areas pertinent to childhood central nervous system malignancy that have recently assumed prominence in the care of children and young adults with brain cancer.

We welcome Original Research, Systematic Review, Review, and Mini Review articles, which are focused on, but not limited to, the following themes:

1) MEK inhibition for pediatric low-grade gliomas: MEK inhibition has emerged as an effective treatment for the most common pediatric brain cancer. Articles detailing the biology, toxicity, and treatment considerations surrounding MEK inhibition, including toxicity mitigation recommendations and known differences in indication and approaches.

2) CNS sarcoma – with the advent of detailed molecular analysis, pediatric CNS tumors have separated into entities that encompass separate driver mechanisms and prognoses. CNS sarcoma has been one of the rarest, and least studies, of the newest entities, with providers being left with little known information on appropriate treatment choices and outcomes. This theme will detail what is known in the community in this new and evolving tumor entity.

3) Cancer predisposition in CNS tumors – the frequency of genetic predisposition in the context of pediatric brain cancers was previously thought to be vanishingly low, but recently has been noted to likely be somewhere in the 20-35% range. Knowledge of the predisposition events has significant impact on treatment choice, as some treatments are more effective and sometimes more toxic in predisposition syndromes, markedly changing therapy choices and prognosis.

4) AYA – the crossover between childhood and young adulthood is a transition that has significant obstacles in expert and seamless care. This theme will detail the major issues which face this group of patients, the resources and potential considerations for treatment and trial investigation.

5) Infant high-risk brain tumors – infants with brain cancer are unable to receive one of the most effective modalities of treatment, irradiation, without serious long-term consequences. An entirely separate set of issues revolves around infants, including those types of new molecular entities that arise predominantly in very young children, appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic considerations, including preservation of function and quality of life while attempting to employ curative therapy.

Please note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent clinical or patient cohort, or biological validation in vitro or in vivo, which are not based on public databases) are not suitable for publication in this journal.

Dr. Ashley Margol serves as an ad hoc member on the advisory board and educational speaker's bureau for Day One Biopharmaceuticals, which develops therapeutics focusing on pediatric Oncology.

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