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Research

Brain cancer and leukemia are the most common cancers diagnosed in the pediatric population and are often treated with lifesaving chemotherapy. However, chemotherapy causes severe adverse effects and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a major dose-limiting and debilitating side effect.

Research

Antibodies that target immune checkpoints such as cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA‐4) and the programmed cell death protein 1/ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) are now a treatment option for multiple cancer types. However, as a monotherapy, objective responses only occur in a minority of patients. Chemotherapy is widely used in combination with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Although a variety of isolated immunostimulatory effects have been reported for several classes of chemotherapeutics, it is unclear which chemotherapeutics provide the most benefit when combined with ICB.

Research

Chemotherapy has historically been the mainstay of cancer treatment, but our understanding of what drives a successful therapeutic response remains limited.

Research

Patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) mouse models are considered the gold standard for evidence-based preclinical research in pediatric neuro-oncology. This protocol describes the generation of PDOX models by intracranial implantation of human pediatric brain cancer cells into immune-deficient mice, and their continued propagation to establish cohorts of animals for preclinical research.

Research

The Zero Childhood Cancer Program is a precision medicine program to benefit children with poor-outcome, rare, relapsed or refractory cancer. Using tumor and germline whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNA sequencing (RNAseq) across 252 tumors from high-risk pediatric patients with cancer, we identified 968 reportable molecular aberrations.

Research

Hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes (HCPS) account for at least 10% of paediatric cancers.1 Li‐Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a dominant HCPS caused by mutations in the TP53 gene and is associated with an 80–90% lifetime risk of cancer, commencing in infancy.2 Children of affected individuals are at 50% risk of inheriting the family mutation.

News & Events

Join us as WA’s cancer research community comes together at the inaugural West Coast Cancer Meeting.

Research

Children with Down syndrome (DS, trisomy 21) are at a significantly higher risk of developing acute leukemia compared to the overall population. Many studies investigating the link between trisomy 21 and leukemia initiation and progression have been conducted over the last two decades.

Research

In this Commentary article, as part of the 100-year celebrations of the journal, we reflect on the contribution of articles published in ICB in the field of tumor immunology. A highlight is a series of interviews conducted with three Australian-based ICB authors who have contributed key papers over the years: Rajiv Khanna, Delia Nelson and Ian Frazer.

Research

Acute erythroleukemia (AEL or acute myeloid leukemia [AML]-M6) is a rare but aggressive hematologic malignancy. Previous studies showed that AEL leukemic cells often carry complex karyotypes and mutations in known AML-associated oncogenes.