Childhood Cancer Treatment Transformed by Ireland’s MAGIC-I Study

Bringing Ireland firmly into the genomics era, MAGIC-I, Ireland’s first clinical study of genomics approaches in cancer care, was launched this week. It is a five-year clinical study using genomics and big data to optimize treatments in childhood cancers. 

The project aims to establish processes to carry out deep genomic analysis for all children and adolescents with cancer in Ireland, including those who have experienced a relapse of their disease.  

Speaking at the launch, Colm Henry, chief clinical officer of Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE), said, “This launch is a significant milestone in Irish cancer care. It is a great example for the vision of introducing genome sequencing and accompanying research into clinical care, laid out in the ‘National Strategy for Accelerating Genetic and Genomic Medicine in Ireland,’ which was developed by the HSE to advance healthcare using leading-edge technology and approaches.” 

MAGIC-I was initially funded through a philanthropic donation to University College Dublin (UCD) aimed at bridging clinical activities at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals with computational modelling and data science at Systems Biology Ireland (SBI) research center based at UCD. It was developed in close collaboration between SBI and CHI, in partnership with Precision Oncology Ireland, and industry collaborators including Illumina, which supports the study with its Dragen software and sequencing reagents. 

MAGIC-I investigator, Walter Kolch, said, “I cannot emphasise enough how big of a signal this is for the Irish healthcare system and likely also beyond it. Importantly, it steps up to a global ambition in its seamless amalgamation of clinical research with advanced computational modelling. Koch is director of SBI, which co-led the data analytics and infrastructure work stream in the national genomics strategy.

It is a trailblazer in incorporating new concepts for personalized medicine, such as digital twins, and for hand-in-glove cooperation between clinical research and cutting-edge computational modeling, which is still very unique.” 

Principal investigator in MAGIC-I and SBI, Owen Smith said, “In the past decade, genome sequencing has not only enabled critical advances in our understanding of how leukemia develops but also why some patients fail to respond to initial treatment, relapse later, or experience severe toxicities leading to injury, secondary illnesses, and secondary cancers. The rollout of MAGIC-I will allow the clinical implementation of sequence-based approaches for more precise diagnosis and management of cancers that will ultimately translate into better outcomes for patients. It will allow us to develop personalised treatments for Irish children who develop cancer.” 

Mark Robinson, Illumina vp & general manager, U.K. & Ireland and Northern Europe, said, “Illumina is proud to be supporting MAGIC-I in this close collaborative effort to introduce whole genome and transcriptome sequencing analysis to help researchers improve in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancers. Using our comprehensive suite of DRAGENTM software tools and Illumina sequencing reagents will help get the study off to the best possible start.”