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Reports of a rise in childhood cancer incidence in Australia and globally prompted the investigation of cancer incidence and survival in South Australia and the Northern Territory over a 28-year period, with emphasis on Indigenous peoples.
PEGasparaginase is known to be a critical drug for treating pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), however, there is insufficient evidence to determine the optimal dose for infants who are less than one year of age at diagnosis. This international study was conducted to identify the pharmacokinetics of PEGasparaginase in infants with newly diagnosed ALL and gather insight into the clearance and dosing of this population.
Pre-clinical studies developing novel therapies to prevent cancer recurrence require appropriate surgical models. Here, we present a protocol for surgical debulking of subcutaneous tumors in mice, which allows for intraoperative application of immunotherapy-loaded biomaterials.
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a significant cause of morbidity for immunosuppressed patients such as organ transplant recipients; however, histological parameters which predict the likelihood of tumor progression are typically based on general population studies in which immunosuppressed patients represent only a small fraction of cases.
Acute leukemia continues to be a major cause of death from disease worldwide and current chemotherapeutic agents are associated with significant morbidity in survivors. While better and safer treatments for acute leukemia are urgently needed, standard drug development pipelines are lengthy and drug repurposing therefore provides a promising approach.
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.
Invasive fungal disease (IFD) occurs less frequently during treatment for solid compared to hematological malignancies in children, and risk groups are poorly defined. Retrospective national multicenter cohort data (2004-2013) were analyzed to document prevalence, clinical characteristics, and microbiology of IFD.
Extensive research over the past 50 years has resulted in significant improvements in survival for patients diagnosed with leukemia. Despite this, a subgroup of patients harboring high-risk genetic alterations still suffer from poor outcomes. There is a desperate need for new treatments to improve survival, yet consistent failure exists in the translation of in vitro drug development to clinical application.
Standard-risk WNT medulloblastoma patients have an excellent prognosis using the combination of standard dose craniospinal radiotherapy (CSI) followed by platinum and alkylator based chemotherapy. A recent pilot study that attempted to completely omit radiotherapy was terminated early as all patients relapsed rapidly. The study highlights that therapy is the most important prognostic factor, with CSI still required to cure even the most favorable subgroup of medulloblastoma patients.
Intravascular tumor extension is an uncommon complication of solid malignancies that, when present in the inferior vena cava (IVC), can result in fatal pulmonary tumor embolism. Currently, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery are the mainstays of treatment; however, there are no consensus guidelines for management.