Scientists in Toronto from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have joined other researchers from around the world in finding breakthroughs that will help develop treatment for children with medulloblastoma.

Researchers at SickKids, an affiliate of the University of Toronto, are among those worldwide who have discovered a dozen subtypes related to medullosblastoma, which is the most common type of brain tumour in children, according to a news announcement.

Labelled as the “dirty dozen,” the subtypes were shown to exhibit different clinical behaviour that will ultimately provide a way to develop a specific treatment for children with the brain tumour.

“Some oncologists think that heterogeneity is limited to adult cancers, but our study shows when you analyze enough samples medulloblastoma is actually composed of many different cancers that look the same under the microscope,” Dr. Vijay Ramaswamy, co-corresponding author, neuro-oncologist and scientist in the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids, said in the announcement.

SickKids is a research-intensive hospital and one of the largest centres in the country focused on children's health.