Diseases Commons^™

Cost-Effectiveness And Outcomes Of Utilizing Tisagenlecleucel Therapy (Car T-Cell) In Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia In Comparison To Standard Of Care (Soc) Therapies: A Scoping Review, Andrew Atschinow, Evangeline Attota, Warren Chan, Pooja Kasarapu, Priyal Shah, Karina Vizzoni

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Aims

This review aims to assess the correlations between outcomes and cost of treatment methods for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, specifically comparing CAR T-cell therapy and Standard-of-Care (SoC) therapy. The socioeconomic background of patients will also be taken into consideration to see if there are differences in their outcomes.

Methods

Peer-reviewed publications were collected from PubMed and Web of Science. The keyword strings used were “acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” “pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” “pediatric,” “CAR T-cell therapy,” and “cost-effectiveness.” 27 citations were obtained. Titles were screened by 6 authors. Articles met the inclusion criteria including potential Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY) …

Resection And Reconstruction Of Ewing Sarcoma Of The Cuboid Utilizing Vascularized Fibular Autograft: A Case Report, Brandon Cunha, Alexandre Arkader

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Ewing Sarcoma (EWS) rarely presents in the bones of the foot, and particularly in the cuboid, making it an exceedingly rare occurrence. We present the case of a 7-year-old female diagnosed with EWS of the right cuboid, detailing the management and outcomes of this rare presentation. The patient, now almost 5 years post-initial local control, exhibits restored foot function, a normalized gait, and no evidence of disease recurrence. This case underscores the potential for preserving lower extremity function and improving postoperative quality of life in rare presentations of EWS through innovative reconstruction strategies.

Collagen Fiber Regulation In Human Pediatric Aortic Valve Development And Disease, Cassandra L. Clift, Yan Ru Su, David Bichell, Heather Jensen Smith, Jennifer R. Bethard, Kim Norris-Caneda, Susana Comte-Walters, Lauren E. Ball, Michael A. Hollingsworth, Anand S. Mehta, Richard R. Drake, Peggi M. Angel

Journal Articles: Eppley Institute

Congenital aortic valve stenosis (CAVS) affects up to 10% of the world population without medical therapies to treat the disease. New molecular targets are continually being sought that can halt CAVS progression. Collagen deregulation is a hallmark of CAVS yet remains mostly undefined. Here, histological studies were paired with high resolution accurate mass (HRAM) collagen-targeting proteomics to investigate collagen fiber production with collagen regulation associated with human AV development and pediatric end-stage CAVS (pCAVS). Histological studies identified collagen fiber realignment and unique regions of high-density collagen in pCAVS. Proteomic analysis reported specific collagen peptides are modified by hydroxylated prolines (HYP), …

Genomic Prediction Of Relapse In Recipients Of Allogeneic Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation., J Ritari, K Hyvärinen, S Koskela, M Itälä-Remes, R Niittyvuopio, A Nihtinen, U Salmenniemi, M Putkonen, L Volin, T Kwan, T Pastinen, J Partanen

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation currently represents the primary potentially curative treatment for cancers of the blood and bone marrow. While relapse occurs in approximately 30% of patients, few risk-modifying genetic variants have been identified. The present study evaluates the predictive potential of patient genetics on relapse risk in a genome-wide manner. We studied 151 graft recipients with HLA-matched sibling donors by sequencing the whole-exome, active immunoregulatory regions, and the full MHC region. To assess the predictive capability and contributions of SNPs and INDELs, we employed machine learning and a feature selection approach in a cross-validation framework to discover the …

Clinical Pharmacology Of Tisagenlecleucel In B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia., Karen Thudium Mueller, Edward Waldron, Stephan A. Grupp, John E. Levine, Theodore W. Laetsch, Michael A. Pulsipher, Michael W. Boyer, Keith August, Jason Hamilton, Rakesh Awasthi, Andrew M. Stein, Denise Sickert, Abhijit Chakraborty, Bruce L. Levine, Carl H. June, Lori Tomassian, Sweta S. Shah, Mimi Leung, Tetiana Taran, Patricia A. Wood, Shannon L. Maude

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

PURPOSE: Tisagenlecleucel is an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR19) T-cell therapy approved for the treatment of children and young adults with relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated the cellular kinetics of tisagenlecleucel, the effect of patient factors, humoral immunogenicity, and manufacturing attributes on its kinetics, and exposure-response analysis for efficacy, safety and pharmacodynamic endpoints in 79 patients across two studies in pediatric B-ALL (ELIANA and ENSIGN).

RESULTS: Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction to quantify levels of tisagenlecleucel transgene, responders (N = 62) had ≈2-fold higher tisagenlecleucel expansion in peripheral blood than nonresponders ( …

A Brief Report Of Immunohistochemical Markers To Identify Aggressive Hepatoblastoma., Vivekanand Singh, Michelle Manalang, Meenal Singh, Udayan Apte

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common malignant liver tumor in children. Although survival of patients has improved significantly over the last 2 decades, a significant number of patients do not respond to standard chemotherapy. We conducted a pilot study to understand if there was immunophenotypic difference between tumors that respond well to chemotherapy versus that do not. We selected 10 cases of HB from children presenting at our hospital. All patients had initial tissue diagnosis, underwent chemotherapy followed by surgical resection. The cases were divided into 2 groups: aggressive group with 5 cases (all of which had a poor response …

Treatment Pathway Of Bone Sarcoma In Children, Adolescents, And Young Adults, Damon R. Reed, Masanori Hayashi, Lars M. Wagner, Odion Binitie, Diana A. Steppan, Andrew S. Brohl, Eric T. Shinohara, Julia A. Bridge, David M. Loeb, Scott C. Borinstein, Michael S. Isakoff

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

When pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients present with a bone sarcoma, treatment decisions, especially after relapse, are complex and require a multidisciplinary approach. This review presents scenarios commonly encountered in the therapy of bone sarcomas with the goal of objectively presenting a consensus, multidisciplinary management approach. Little variation was found in the authors' group with respect to local control or systemic therapy. Clinical trials were universally prioritized in all settings. Decisions regarding relapse therapies in the absence of a clinical trial had very minor variations initially, but a consensus was reached after a literature review and discussion. This review …

Family Strategies To Support Siblings Of Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients., Taylor E. White, Kristopher A. Hendershot, Margie D. Dixon, Wendy Pelletier, Ann Haight, Kristin Stegenga, Melissa A. Alderfer, Lydia Cox, Jeffrey M. Switchenko, Pamela Hinds, Rebecca D. Pentz

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: To describe the strategies families report using to address the needs and concerns of siblings of children, adolescents, and young adults undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).

METHODS: A secondary semantic analysis was conducted of 86 qualitative interviews with family members of children, adolescents, and young adults undergoing HSCT at 4 HSCT centers and supplemented with a primary analysis of 38 additional targeted qualitative interviews (23 family members, 15 health care professionals) conducted at the primary center. Analyses focused on sibling issues and the strategies families use to address these issues.

RESULTS: The sibling issues identified included: (1) feeling …

Natural Compounds Targeting Major Cell Signaling Pathways: A Novel Paradigm For Osteosarcoma Therapy., Pablo Angulo, Gaurav Kaushik, Dharmalingam Subramaniam, Prasad Dandawate, Kathleen Neville, Katherine Chastain, Shrikant Anant

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer affecting children and adolescents worldwide. Despite an incidence of three cases per million annually, it accounts for an inordinate amount of morbidity and mortality. While the use of chemotherapy (cisplatin, doxorubicin, and methotrexate) in the last century initially resulted in marginal improvement in survival over surgery alone, survival has not improved further in the past four decades. Patients with metastatic osteosarcoma have an especially poor prognosis, with only 30% overall survival. Hence, there is a substantial need for new therapies. The inability to control the metastatic progression of this localized cancer stems …

Pediatric Ovarian Growing Teratoma Syndrome., Rebecca M. Rentea, Aaron Varghese, Atif Ahmed, Alexander Kats, Michelle Manalang, Tazim Dowlut-Mcelroy, Richard J. Hendrickson

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Ovarian immature teratoma is a germ cell tumor that comprises less than 1% of ovarian cancers and is treated with surgical debulking and chemotherapy depending on stage. Growing teratoma syndrome (GTS) is the phenomenon of the growth of mature teratoma elements with normal tumor markers during or following chemotherapy for treatment of a malignant germ cell tumor. These tumors are associated with significant morbidity and mortality due to invasive and compressive growth as well as potential for malignant transformation. Current treatment modality is surgical resection. We discuss a 12-year-old female who presented following resection of a pure ovarian immature teratoma …

Health-Related Quality Of Life (Hr-Qol) And Chronic Health Conditions In Survivors Of Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (Aml) With Down Syndrome (Ds): A Report From The Children's Oncology Group., Kris Ann P. Schultz, Lu Chen, Alicia Kunin-Batson, Zhengjia Chen, William G. Woods, A S. Gamis, Toana Kawashima, Kevin C. Oeffinger, H Stacy Stacy Nicholson, Joseph P. Neglia

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Survival rates for children with Down syndrome (DS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are high; however, little is known regarding the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of these survivors. Individuals who survived ≥5 years following diagnosis of childhood AML were invited to complete parent or patient-report surveys measuring HR-QOL and chronic health conditions. In total, 26 individuals with DS had a median age at diagnosis of 1.8 years (range, 0.77 to 10.9 y) and median age at interview of 15 years (range, 8.3 to 27.6 y). Participants with DS and AML were compared with AML survivors without DS whose caregiver …

Yap And The Hippo Pathway In Pediatric Cancer., Atif Ahmed, Abdalla D. Mohamed, Melissa Gener, Weijie Li, Eugenio Taboada

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The Hippo pathway is an important signaling pathway that controls cell proliferation and apoptosis. It is evolutionarily conserved in mammals and is stimulated by cell-cell contact, inhibiting cell proliferation in response to increased cell density. During early embryonic development, the Hippo signaling pathway regulates organ development and size, and its functions result in the coordinated balance between proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Its principal effectors, YAP and TAZ, regulate signaling by the embryonic stem cells and determine cell fate and histogenesis. Dysfunction of this pathway contributes to cancer development in adults and children. Emerging studies have shed light on the upregulation …

Mir-155 Expression And Correlation With Clinical Outcome In Pediatric Aml: A Report From Children's Oncology Group., Ranjani Ramamurthy, Maya Hughes, Valerie Morris, Hamid Bolouri, Robert B. Gerbing, Yi-Cheng Wang, Michael R. Loken, Susana C. Raimondi, Betsy A. Hirsch, A S. Gamis, Vivian G. Oehler, Todd A. Alonzo, Soheil Meshinchi

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Aberrant expression of microRNA-155 (miR-155) has been implicated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and associated with clinical outcome.

PROCEDURE: We evaluated miR-155 expression in 198 children with normal karyotype AML (NK-AML) enrolled in Children's Oncology Group (COG) AML trial AAML0531 and correlated miR-155 expression levels with disease characteristics and clinical outcome. Patients were divided into quartiles (Q1-Q4) based on miR-155 expression level, and disease characteristics were then evaluated and correlated with miR-155 expression.

RESULTS: MiR-155 expression varied over 4-log10-fold range relative to its expression in normal marrow with a median expression level of 0.825 (range 0.043-25.630) for the entire …

Shorter Remission Telomere Length Predicts Delayed Neutrophil Recovery After Acute Myeloid Leukemia Therapy: A Report From The Children's Oncology Group., Robert B. Gerbing, Todd A. Alonzo, Lillian Sung, Alan S. Gamis, Soheil Meshinchi, Sharon E. Plon, Alison A. Bertuch, Maria M. Gramatges

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Purpose Suboptimal outcomes for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) necessitate maximally intensive therapy. Consequently, serious adverse events, such as prolonged periods of profound myelosuppression, contribute to AML treatment-related mortality. Telomeres, the repetitive DNA-protein structures at chromosome ends, influence cellular replicative capacity in that critically short telomeres can induce cell senescence or apoptosis. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of telomere length on duration of post-therapy neutropenia in a pediatric AML cohort. Patients and Methods Patients were diagnosed with de novo AML, enrolled in Children's Oncology Group study AAML0531, and included those with (n = 53) and without (n …

Association Between Prolonged Neutropenia And Reduced Relapse Risk In Pediatric Aml: A Report From The Children's Oncology Group., Lillian Sung, Richard Aplenc, Todd A. Alonzo, Robert B. Gerbing, Yi-Cheng Wang, Soheil Meshinchi, A S. Gamis

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Objective was to describe the relationship between the number of sterile site infections and duration of neutropenia during the first four cycles of chemotherapy and the risk of recurrence and overall survival in children with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AAML0531 was a Children's Oncology Group randomized phase 3 clinical trial that included 1022 children with de novo AML. For this analysis, we focused on non-Down syndrome favorable and standard risk patients who completed at least 4 cycles of chemotherapy without recurrence or withdrawal during protocol therapy. Those receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in first remission were excluded. Five …

Processing Information After A Child's Cancer Diagnosis-How Parents Learn., Cheryl C. Rodgers, Kristin Stegenga, Janice S. Withycombe, Karen Sachse, Katherine Patterson Kelly

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Parents of a child newly diagnosed with cancer must receive an extensive amount of information before their child's initial hospital discharge; however, little is known about best practices for providing this education. An interpretive descriptive study design was used to describe actual and preferred educational content, timing, and methods among parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer prior to their child's first hospital discharge. Twenty parents of children diagnosed with various malignancies participated in individual interviews 2 to 12 months after their child's diagnosis. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis. Education delivery occurred in a telling manner at diagnosis …

Asymptomatic Left Ventricular Myxoma In A 12-Year-Old Male., Meghan Chlebowski, James O'Brien, Casey Hertzenberg, Jonathan B. Wagner

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Cardiac myxoma is the most common cardiac tumor in patients of all ages; the majority are encountered as single left atrial tumors. Left ventricular myxomas are exceedingly rare, having been recorded in a small number of case reports involving children worldwide. We report a case of a left ventricular myxoma with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction in a previously healthy, asymptomatic adolescent black male. Transthoracic echocardiograms revealed a single, large (2.5 × 5-cm), lobulated, mobile mass within the left ventricular cavity that oscillated into the outflow tract, thereby causing moderate obstruction during systole. Advanced images delineated the location and tissue …

A Heuristic Solution Of The Identifiability Problem Of The Age-Period-Cohort Analysis Of Cancer Occurrence: Lung Cancer Example., Tengiz Mdzinarishvili, Simon Sherman

Journal Articles: Eppley Institute

BACKGROUND: The Age-Period-Cohort (APC) analysis is aimed at estimating the following effects on disease incidence: (i) the age of the subject at the time of disease diagnosis; (ii) the time period, when the disease occurred; and (iii) the date of birth of the subject. These effects can help in evaluating the biological events leading to the disease, in estimating the influence of distinct risk factors on disease occurrence, and in the development of new strategies for disease prevention and treatment.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed a novel approach for estimating the APC effects on disease incidence rates in the frame of …