MAGIC-I: A new era of childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment in Ireland
A diagnosis of cancer at any stage of life is a challenge. But for the hundreds of children, adolescents and young adults who are diagnosed in Ireland each year with cancer, the impact on each patient and their family can be truly devastating.
That’s why the MAGIC-I project is harnessing the power of genetics, genomics and big data to optimise treatments in childhood cancers, to ensure that the child has the best chance of survival while minimising the long-term effects of treatment.
The project, called ‘Molecular and Genomic Interrogation of Childhood Cancer - Ireland’, is an opportunity for Ireland to improve the lives of young cancer patients now and into the future.
It began as a deeply personal philanthropic gift to University College Dublin, aimed at bridging clinical activities at Children’s Health Ireland with computational modeling efforts at the university-based Systems Biology Ireland Centre.
The goal was to drive breakthroughs in precision oncology research. And now, through partnership with Precision Oncology Ireland, it has evolved into the highly ambitious MAGIC-I project.
As the saying goes, it takes a village - and in the case of MAGIC-I this is most certainly true.
Precision Oncology Ireland unites nationwide partners from academia, industry, clinics, and the charity sector—empowering the MAGIC-i to harness the full strength of this multidisciplinary network to fast-track advancements in pediatric oncology diagnosis and treatment.
“Understanding the genetics of a cancer offers insights into how to treat it, and in the case of children’s cancers, we know we need to do extensive analysis to figure out what is going on,” says Professor Jonathan Bond, who is University College Dublin Brendan McGonnell Professor of Paediatric Molecular Haemato-Oncology and one of MAGIC-I's Principal Investigators.
A clinical haematologist by training, Professor Bond developed an interest in research when he saw the benefits to patients while working on the wards. He trained as an academic clinician in England and France, and in 2018 he joined Systems Biology Ireland at University College Dublin to lead Ireland’s scientific research programme in children’s leukaemia.
Since 2021, Professor Bond has been an investigator in Precision Oncology Ireland, and he is an Honorary Consultant Paediatric Haematologist in CHI at Crumlin.
Overall survival rates in childhood leukaemia have improved vastly in the last few decades, with survival running at more than 90% of the most common form, but the overall survival in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia remains lower, at about 70%, Professor Bond explains.
The goal of MAGIC-I is to do better for patients, he explains, by seeking to improve treatment and survival rates across the board.
“By analysing the genetics of an individual’s cancer, we can identify molecular vulnerabilities and figure out the best way to treat the cancer,” he says. “We can also refine treatments to help minimise the toxicities and effects on fertility, vulnerability to infections and bone damage, all while still treating the cancer effectively.”
The five-year MAGIC-I programme is putting in place the processes to carry out and analyse deep genomic analysis for most childhood cancer patients in Ireland, including those who develop neuroblastoma, a type of tumour in the nervous system that can be difficult to treat.
Precision Oncology Ireland director Professor Walter Kolch has used computer and mathematical models to reveal new insights into the genetics of neuroblastoma. His work has also identified how more targeted therapies could spare patients from long-term injuries such as hearing loss and other, secondary cancers. MAGIC-I will enable these discoveries to benefit children in Ireland who are diagnosed with the disease.
Professors Bond and Kolch are working closely on MAGIC-I with paediatric cancer consultants Professor Owen Smith and Dr Cormac Owens at CHI.
“In the past decade, genome sequencing has not only enabled critical advances in our understanding of how leukaemia develops but also why some patients fail to respond to initial treatment, relapse later, or experience severe toxicities, and these advances have been complemented by the development of new treatments such as targeted therapies and antibody and cellular immunotherapies,” says Professor Smith, who is Professor of Child, Adolescent & Young Adult Oncology at Trinity College Dublin and Consultant Paediatric Haematologist, Children’s Health Ireland.
“Until now genome sequencing has not been routinely used clinically in Children’s Health Ireland for our patients and the rollout of MAGIC-I will allow the clinical implementation of sequence-based approaches for more precise diagnosis and management of blood cancers that will ultimately translate into better clinical outcomes”
By integrating clinical and research knowledge, the project stands to have a profound and immediate effect for young patients in Ireland who develop cancer, according to Professor Bond.
“By using computational models that are built for the individual patient, we can use machine learning to rapidly identify the drivers of the cancer and design the most effective and least toxic treatment accordingly,” he says. “And the power of the collaboration means that clinicians and researchers can work on these problems together.”[J1]