Everolimus worked about as well as chemo in children with low grade brain tumors
Original title: mTOR inhibitor everolimus versus conventional chemotherapy in pediatric low-grade gliomas.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
Doctors only looked back at past records at one hospital, not a planned trial.
The short version
Children who took everolimus did about as well as those on chemo, and had fewer serious side effects.
What was studied. Doctors looked back at the records of 279 children with low grade brain tumors. 126 of them took a drug called everolimus, and 153 got standard chemo with carboplatin and vincristine: A chemotherapy given into a vein. It is the V in PCV. It can cause numbness or tingling in the hands and feet, which is worth reporting early. See the glossary.
What they found. The two groups did about the same on tumor control and on how long children lived. Serious side effects happened less often with everolimus, 22.22% compared with 44.44%, and blood related side effects were also lower, 26.19% compared with 52.94%. Children with tumors on the eye nerves kept better vision with everolimus.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Everolimus may be an option that is easier on a child's body. It did not work better than chemo. It just seemed to cause fewer serious problems. It still had side effects. Mouth sores happened in 49.21% of the children on everolimus, high blood fats in 38.10%, and rash in 25.40%. Most of these were mild.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean everolimus is proven, and it is not a cure. Doctors only looked back at past records from one hospital. They did not run a planned trial that put children into groups at random. Studies like this can be thrown off by other things. So this is not standard care for most children today. Any choice about treatment belongs to a child's own care team.
Source: PubMed, September 25, 2026 · Read the original
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