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Research

KMT2A-rearranged acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants is an aggressive disease with 3-year event-free survival below 40%. Most relapses occur during treatment, with two thirds occurring within 1 year and 90% within 2 years after diagnosis. Outcomes have not improved in recent decades despite intensification of chemotherapy.

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Eight The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers are among those who have received grant funding from the Telethon-Perth Children’s Hospital Research Fund (TPCHRF).

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A The Kids Research Institute Australia researcher aiming to reduce the high rate of relapse in children after cancer surgery has won a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship from the Forrest Foundation.

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Two outstanding Perth Children’s Hospital clinicians will be supported to pursue a career in medical research, paving the way for more clinician-scientists in Western Australia.

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Three The Kids researchers are collaborating on a cancer research project that has been awarded a $1.75mill grant by the Australian Cancer Research Fund.

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Two The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers have been awarded prestigious grants from the Raine Medical Research Foundation for projects in childhood cancer and newborn infection control.

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Dr Laurence Cheung is doing everything he can to end the threat of childhood leukemia. His research has the potential to change countless lives, but he also has another important job – being a dad to three beautiful children.

Research

Natural killer (NK) cells play a significant and vital role in the first line of defense against infection through their ability to target cells without prior sensitization. They also contribute significantly to the activation and recruitment of both innate and adaptive immune cells through the production of a range of cytokines and chemokines. In the context of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, NK cells and CMV have co-evolved side by side to employ several mechanisms to evade one another.

Research

Surgical resection of cancer remains the frontline therapy for millions of patients annually, but post-operative recurrence is common, with a relapse rate of around 45% for non-small cell lung cancer. The tumour draining lymph nodes (dLN) are resected at the time of surgery for staging purposes, and this cannot be a null event for patient survival and future response to immune checkpoint blockade treatment. This project investigates cancer surgery, lymphadenectomy, onset of metastatic disease, and response to immunotherapy in a novel model that closely reflects the clinical setting. In a murine metastatic lung cancer model, primary subcutaneous tumours were resected with associated dLNs remaining intact, completely resected or partially resected.

Research

Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy is accompanied by treatment-related toxicities (TRTs) and impaired quality of life. In Australia and New Zealand, children with ALL are treated with either Children's Oncology Group (COG) or international Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (iBFM) Study Group-based therapy.