Researchers from McGill University and collaborating institutions aimed to investigate whether oligonucleotides are a viable drug class to prevent hydrocephalus.

Dravet syndrome is a rare, severe, lifelong developmental and epileptic encephalopathy that begins in infancy and is marked by prolonged, often fever-triggered seizures that are difficult to control. It is usually caused by mutations in the SCN1A gene and is associated with developmental delay, cognitive and behavioral impairment, and reduced life expectancy.

Similarities among three pediatric brain tumors that arise in different structures of the CNS – pineoblastoma, retinoblastoma and Group 3 medulloblastoma – have been linked to their shared origin during pineal gland development. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified the molecular signatures that drive these tumors from pinealocyte progenitor cells that conserve a common differentiation program, providing a shared therapeutic target for these three cancer types.