Home Science Unanticipated early origins of childhood brain cancer

Unanticipated early origins of childhood brain cancer

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Brain tumors are the leading cause of non-accidental death in children in Canada, but little is known about when these tumours form or how they develop. Researchers have recently identified the cells that are thought to give rise to certain brain tumors in children and discovered that these cells first appear in the embryonic stage of a mammal’s development – far earlier than they had expected.