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Chemotherapy is included in treatment regimens for many solid cancers, but when administered as a single agent it is rarely curative. The addition of immune checkpoint therapy to standard chemotherapy regimens has improved response rates and increased survival in some cancers. However, most patients do not respond to treatment and immune checkpoint therapy can cause severe side effects. Therefore, there is a need for alternative immunomodulatory drugs that enhance chemotherapy.
Nick Gottardo MBChB FRACP PhD Co-Head, Brain Tumour Research team; Head of Oncology and Haematology, Perth Children’s Hospital nicholas.gottardo@
Antibodies that target immune checkpoints such as cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4, programmed cell death protein/ligand 1 are approved for treatment of multiple cancer types.
Event-free survival considers other adverse events in addition to mortality. It therefore provides a more complete understanding of the effectiveness and consequences of treatment than standard survival measures, but is rarely reported at the population level for childhood cancer.
Siblings of children with cancer have been shown to experience disruption in multiple domains including family, school, and friendships. Existing literature on siblings' experiences focuses on older children or on a broad range of ages.
Children receiving treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are at high risk of invasive fungal disease (IFD). Evidence from pediatric studies support the efficacy of antifungal prophylaxis in reducing the burden of IFD in children receiving therapy for AML, yet existing antifungal agents have specific limitations and comparative data to inform the optimal prophylactic approach are lacking.
Researchers have identified key differences between cancers that respond to immunotherapy and those that do not.
Cancer researchers have narrowed-down the field of immunotherapy drugs which could be used to tackle a form of childhood brain cancer.
Four The Kids Research Institute Australia-based biobanks which underpin a range of cancer, respiratory and early life research have received more than $450,000 in funding.
The Kids Research Institute Australia cancer researcher, Dr Jason Waithman, has been named Cancer Council WA’s 2021 Cancer Researcher of the Year.