Michael Fox, MD, PhD,

Diffuse midline glioma is one of the deadliest childhood brain cancers.

A new study of human brain scans examines how tumors may wire themselves into healthy brain circuits, using brain activity to promote their growth, with important implications for future treatment.

The study was led by researchers at University College London, but represents an international collaboration between researchers at multiple institutions.

Mass General Brigham co-authors include Frederic L.W.V.J. Schaper, MD, PhD, Humsa Vankatesh, PhD, and Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, of the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics at the Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute.

Frederic Schaper, MD, PhD

Using lesion network mapping, a method pioneered by faculty in the Center, the researchers analyzed brain scans from international cohorts of children with diffuse midline glioma, combining them with large reference datasets of healthy brain connectivity.

They found that tumors across children consistently connected to the same brain network and that stronger connectivity to this network was associated with worse survival outcomes. Peaks in diffuse midline glioma incidence during childhood coincided with periods of intense metabolic and developmental change in this same brain network.

They also found that which parts of the tumor are surgically removed may matter more than how much tumor is removed: removing highly connected thalamic diffuse midline glioma tissue was associated with a significant survival benefit.

Humsa Vankatesh, PhD

Their findings emphasize that diffuse midline glioma behaves as a network-driven disease, not just a local mass, suggesting future treatments should target brain circuits as well as the tumor.

The study also suggests that measuring how strongly a tumor connects to this network may help predict outcomes more accurately than tumor location alone.

Published in Nature on June 10, 2026 | Read the paper: “A prognostic human brain network for diffuse 1 midline glioma”
Summary reviewed by: Frederic L.W.V.J. Schaper, MD, PhD, Humsa Vankatesh, PhD, and Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, co-authors