Medical Specialties Commons^™

Prognostic Impact Of Cooccurring Mutations In Flt3-Itd Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia., Katherine Tarlock, Robert B. Gerbing, Rhonda E. Ries, Jenny L. Smith, Amanda Leonti, Benjamin J. Huang, Danielle Kirkey, Leila Robinson, Jack H. Peplinksi, Beverly Lange, Todd M. Cooper, Alan S. Gamis, E Anders Kolb, Richard Aplenc, Jessica A. Pollard, Todd A. Alonzo, Soheil Meshinchi

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We sought to define the cooccurring mutational profile of FLT3-ITD-positive (ITDpos) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in pediatric and young adult patients and to define the prognostic impact of cooperating mutations. We identified 464 patients with FLT3-ITD mutations treated on Children's Oncology Group trials with available sequencing and outcome data. Overall survival, event-free survival (EFS), and relapse risk were determined according to the presence of cooccurring risk stratifying mutations. Among the cohort, 79% of patients had cooccurring alterations across 239 different genes that were altered through mutations or fusions. Evaluation of the prognostic impact of the cooccurring mutations demonstrated that patients …

Structural Variants Involving Mllt10 Fusion Are Associated With Adverse Outcomes In Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia., Oussama Abla, Rhonda E. Ries, Tim Triche, Robert B. Gerbing, Betsy Hirsch, Susana Raimondi, Todd Cooper, Jason E. Farrar, Nathaniel Buteyn, Lauren M. Harmon, Hong Wen, Aniruddha J. Deshpande, E Anders Kolb, Alan S. Gamis, Richard Aplenc, Todd Alonzo, Soheil Meshinchi

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MLLT10 gene rearrangements with KMT2A occur in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and confer poor prognosis, but the prognostic impact of MLLT10 in partnership with other genes is unknown. We conducted a retrospective study with 2080 children and young adults with AML registered on the Children's Oncology Group AAML0531 (NCT00372593) and AAML1031 trials (NCT01371981). Transcriptome profiling and/or karyotyping were performed to identify leukemia-associated fusions associated with prognosis. Collectively, 127 patients (6.1%) were identified with MLLT10 fusions: 104 (81.9%) with KMT2A::MLLT10, 13 (10.2%) with PICALM::MLLT10, and 10 (7.9%) X::MLLT10: (2 each of DDX3X and TEC), with 6 partners (DDX3Y, CEP164, SCN2B, …

Molecular-Guided Therapy For The Treatment Of Patients With Relapsed And Refractory Childhood Cancers: A Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium Trial., Giselle L Saulnier Sholler, Genevieve Bergendahl, Elizabeth C. Lewis, Jacqueline Kraveka, William Ferguson, Abhinav B. Nagulapally, Karl Dykema, Valerie I Brown, Michael S. Isakoff, Joseph Junewick, Deanna Mitchell, Jawhar Rawwas, William Roberts, Don Eslin, Javier Oesterheld, Randal K. Wada, Devang Pastakia, Virginia Harrod, Kevin Ginn, Raya Saab, Kevin Bielamowicz, Jason Glover, Eugenia Chang, Gina K. Hanna, Daniel Enriquez, Tyler Izatt, Rebecca F Halperin, Abigail Moore, Sara A. Byron, William P D Hendricks, Jeffrey M. Trent

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BACKGROUND: Children with relapsed central nervous system (CNS tumors), neuroblastoma, sarcomas, and other rare solid tumors face poor outcomes. This prospective clinical trial examined the feasibility of combining genomic and transcriptomic profiling of tumor samples with a molecular tumor board (MTB) approach to make real‑time treatment decisions for children with relapsed/refractory solid tumors.

METHODS: Subjects were divided into three strata: stratum 1-relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma; stratum 2-relapsed/refractory CNS tumors; and stratum 3-relapsed/refractory rare solid tumors. Tumor samples were sent for tumor/normal whole-exome (WES) and tumor whole-transcriptome (WTS) sequencing, and the genomic data were used in a multi-institutional MTB to make real‑time treatment …

Mediators And Moderators Of Active Music Engagement To Reduce Traumatic Stress Symptoms And Improve Well-Being In Parents Of Young Children With Cancer., Sheri L. Robb, Kristin Stegenga, Susan M. Perkins, Timothy E. Stump, Karen M. Moody, Amanda K. Henley, Jessica Maclean, Seethal A. Jacob, David Delgado, Paul R. Haut

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OBJECTIVE: This trial examined the effects of proximal/distal mediators and moderators of an Active Music Engagement (AME) intervention on young child/parent distress, quality of life, and family function outcomes.

METHODS: Child/parent dyads (n = 125) were randomized to AME or Audio-storybooks attention control condition. Each group received 3 sessions with a credentialed music therapist for 3 consecutive days with data collection at baseline, post-intervention (T2), and 30-days later (T3). Potential proximal mediators included within session child and parent engagement. Potential distal mediators included changes in perceived family normalcy, parent self-efficacy, and independent use of play materials. Potential moderators included parent/child …

Characteristics And Prognostic Impact Of Idh Mutations In Aml: A Cog, Swog, And Ecog Analysis., Sara Zarnegar-Lumley, Todd A. Alonzo, Robert B. Gerbing, Megan Othus, Zhuoxin Sun, Rhonda E. Ries, Jim Wang, Amanda Leonti, Matthew A. Kutny, Fabiana Ostronoff, Jerald P. Radich, Frederick R. Appelbaum, Era L. Pogosova-Agadjanyan, Kristen O'Dwyer, Martin S. Tallman, Mark Litzow, Ehab Atallah, Todd M. Cooper, Richard A. Aplenc, Omar Abdel-Wahab, Alan S. Gamis, Selina Luger, Harry Erba, Ross Levine, E Anders Kolb, Derek L. Stirewalt, Soheil Meshinchi, Katherine Tarlock

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Somatic mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) genes occur frequently in adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and less commonly in pediatric AML. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence, mutational profile, and prognostic significance of IDH mutations in AML across age. Our cohort included 3141 patients aged betweenChildren's Cancer Group/Children's Oncology Group (n = 1872), Southwest Oncology Group (n = 359), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (n = 397) trials, and in Beat AML (n = 333) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (n = 180) genomic characterization cohorts. We retrospectively analyzed patients in 4 age groups (age range, n): …

Comprehensive Molecular And Clinical Characterization Of Nup98 Fusions In Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Eline J M Bertrums, Jenny L. Smith, Lauren Harmon, Rhonda E. Ries, Yi-Cheng J. Wang, Todd A. Alonzo, Andrew J. Menssen, Karen M. Chisholm, Amanda R. Leonti, Katherine Tarlock, Fabiana Ostronoff, Era L. Pogosova-Agadjanyan, Gertjan J L Kaspers, Henrik Hasle, Michael Dworzak, Christiane Walter, Nora Muhlegger, Cristina Morerio, Laura Pardo, Betsy Hirsch, Susana Raimondi, Todd M. Cooper, Richard Aplenc, Alan S. Gamis, Edward A. Kolb, Jason E. Farrar, Derek Stirewalt, Xiaotu Ma, Tim I. Shaw, Scott N. Furlan, Lisa Eidenschink Brodersen, Michael R. Loken, Marry M. Van Den Heuvel-Eibrink, C Michel Zwaan, Timothy J. Triche, Bianca F. Goemans, Soheil Meshinchi

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NUP98 fusions comprise a family of rare recurrent alterations in AML, associated with adverse outcomes. In order to define the underlying biology and clinical implications of this family of fusions, we performed comprehensive transcriptome, epigenome, and immunophenotypic profiling of 2,235 children and young adults with AML and identified 160 NUP98 rearrangements (7.2%), including 108 NUP98-NSD1 (4.8%), 32 NUP98-KDM5A (1.4%) and 20 NUP98-X cases (0.9%) with 13 different fusion partners. Fusion partners defined disease characteristics and biology; patients with NUP98-NSD1 or NUP98-KDM5A had distinct immunophenotypic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic profiles. Unlike the two most prevalent NUP98 fusions, NUP98-X variants are typically not …

Hlh-Like Toxicities Predict Poor Survival After The Use Of Tisagenlecleucel In Children And Young Adults With B-All., Kevin O. Mcnerney, Stephanie J. Si Lim, Kyle Ishikawa, Alexandra Dreyzin, Anant Vatsayan, John J. Chen, Christina Baggott, Snehit Prabhu, Holly L. Pacenta, Christine Philips, Jenna Rossoff, Heather E. Stefanski, Julie-An Talano, Amy Moskop, Michael Verneris, Douglas Myers, Nicole A. Karras, Patrick Brown, Challice L. Bonifant, Muna Qayed, Michelle Hermiston, Prakash Satwani, Christa Krupski, Amy K. Keating, Susanne H C Baumeister, Vanessa A. Fabrizio, Vasant Chinnabhandar, Emily Egeler, Sharon Mavroukakis, Kevin J. Curran, Crystal L. Mackall, Theodore W. Laetsch, Liora M. Schultz

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Chimeric antigen receptor-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH)-like toxicities (LTs) involving hyperferritinemia, multiorgan dysfunction, coagulopathy, and/or hemophagocytosis are described as occurring in a subset of patients with cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Case series report poor outcomes for those with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) who develop HLH-LTs, although larger outcomes analyses of children and young adults (CAYAs) with B-ALL who develop these toxicities after the administration of commercially available tisagenlecleucel are not described. Using a multi-institutional database of 185 CAYAs with B-ALL, we conducted a retrospective cohort study including groups that developed HLH-LTs, high-grade (HG) CRS without HLH-LTs, or no to low-grade …

Measurable Residual Disease And Fusion Partner Independently Predict Survival And Relapse Risk In Childhood Kmt2a-Rearranged Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Study By The International Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group, Romy E. Van Weelderen, Kim Klein, Christine J. Harrison, Yilin Jiang, Jonas Abrahamsson, Nira Arad-Cohen, Emmanuelle Bart-Delabesse, Barbara Buldini, Barbara De Moerloose, Michael N. Dworzak, Sarah Elitzur, José M. Fernández Navarro, Robert B. Gerbing, Bianca F. Goemans, Hester A. De Groot-Kruseman, Erin M. Guest, Shau-Yin Ha, Henrik Hasle, Charikleia Kelaidi, Hélène Lapillonne, Guy Leverger, Franco Locatelli, Riccardo Masetti, Takako Miyamura, Ulrika Norén-Nyström, Sophia Polychronopoulou, Mareike Rasche, Jeffrey E. Rubnitz, Jan Stary, Anne Tierens, Daisuke Tomizawa, C Michel Zwaan, Gertjan J L Kaspers

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Purpose: A previous study by the International Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group (I-BFM-SG) on childhood KMT2A-rearranged (KMT2A-r) AML demonstrated the prognostic value of the fusion partner. This I-BFM-SG study investigated the value of flow cytometry-based measurable residual disease (flow-MRD) and evaluated the benefit of allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (allo-SCT) in first complete remission (CR1) in this disease.

Methods: A total of 1,130 children with KMT2A-r AML, diagnosed between January 2005 and December 2016, were assigned to high-risk (n = 402; 35.6%) or non-high-risk (n = 728; 64.4%) fusion partner-based groups. Flow-MRD levels at both end of induction 1 (EOI1) …

Protocol And Biomarker Strategy For A Multi-Site Randomized Controlled Trial Examining Biological Mechanisms And Dosing Of Active Music Engagement In Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia And Lymphoma And Parents., Sheri L. Robb, Kristen A. Russ, Steven J. Holochwost, Kristin Stegenga, Susan M. Perkins, Seethal A. Jacob, Amanda K. Henley, Jessica A. Maclean

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BACKGROUND: Music therapy is a standard palliative care service in many pediatric and adult hospitals; however, most research has focused on the use of music to improve psychosocial dimensions of health, without considering biological dimensions. This study builds on prior work examining psychosocial mechanisms of action underlying an Active Music Engagement (AME) intervention, designed to help manage emotional distress and improve positive health outcomes in young children with cancer and parents (caregivers), by examining its effects on biomarkers of stress and immune function.

METHODS: This two-group randomized controlled trial (R01NR019190) is designed to examine biological mechanisms of effect and dose-response …

Three-Year Update Of Tisagenlecleucel In Pediatric And Young Adult Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia In The Eliana Trial., Theodore W. Laetsch, Shannon L. Maude, Susana Rives, Hidefumi Hiramatsu, Henrique Bittencourt, Peter Bader, André Baruchel, Michael Boyer, Barbara De Moerloose, Muna Qayed, Jochen Buechner, Michael A. Pulsipher, Douglas Myers, Heather E. Stefanski, Paul L. Martin, Eneida Nemecek, Christina Peters, Gregory Yanik, Seong Lin Khaw, Kara L. Davis, Joerg Krueger, Adriana Balduzzi, Nicolas Boissel, Ranjan Tiwari, Darragh O'Donovan, Stephan A. Grupp

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In the primary analysis of the global phase II ELIANA trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02435849), tisagenlecleucel provided an overall remission rate of 81% in pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (R/R B-ALL), with 59% of responders remaining relapse-free at 12 months. Here, we report an update on efficacy, safety, and patient-reported quality of life in 79 pediatric and young adult patients with R/R B-ALL following a median follow-up of 38.8 months. The overall remission rate was 82%. The median event-free survival was 24 months, and the median overall survival was not reached. Event-free …

Higher Doses Of Tisagenlecleucel Are Associated With Improved Outcomes: A Report From The Pediatric Real-World Car Consortium., Heather E. Stefanski, Anne Eaton, Christina Baggott, Jenna Rossoff, Michael R. Verneris, Snehit Prabhu, Holly L. Pacenta, Christine L. Phillips, Julie-An Talano, Amy Moskop, Steven P. Margossian, Douglas Myers, Nicole A. Karras, Patrick A. Brown, Muna Qayed, Michelle Hermiston, Prakash Satwani, M Christa Krupski, Amy K. Keating, Rachel Wilcox, Cara A. Rabik, Vanessa A. Fabrizio, Vasant Chinnabhandar, A Yasemin Goksenin, Kevin J. Curran, Crystal L. Mackall, Theodore W. Laetsch, Liora M. Schultz

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Remarkable complete response rates have been shown with tisagenlecleucel, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19, in patients up to age 26 years with refractory/relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; it is US Food and Drug Administration approved for this indication. Currently, patients receive a single dose of tisagenlecleucel across a wide dose range of 0.2 to 5.0 × 106 and 0.1 to 2.5 × 108 CAR T cells per kg for patients ≤50 and >50 kg, respectively. The effect of cell dose on survival and remission is not yet well established. Our primary goal was to determine if …

Real-World Use Of Tisagenlecleucel In Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia., Amy Moskop, Lauren Pommert, Christina Baggott, Snehit Prabhu, Holly L. Pacenta, Christine L. Phillips, Jenna Rossoff, Heather E. Stefanski, Julie-An Talano, Steve P. Margossian, Michael R. Verneris, Douglas Myers, Nicole A. Karras, Patrick A. Brown, Muna Qayed, Michelle L. Hermiston, Prakash Satwani, Christa Krupski, Amy K. Keating, Rachel Wilcox, Cara A. Rabik, Vanessa A. Fabrizio, Vasant Chinnabhandar, A Yasemin Goksenin, Kevin J. Curran, Crystal L. Mackall, Theodore W. Laetsch, Erin M. Guest, Erin H. Breese, Liora M. Schultz

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Infants with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) have poor outcomes because of chemotherapy resistance leading to high relapse rates. Tisagenlecleucel, a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CART) therapy, is US Food and Drug Administration approved for relapsed or refractory B-ALL in patients ≤25 years; however, the safety and efficacy of this therapy in young patients is largely unknown because children(n = 14). Sixty-four percent of patients (n = 9) achieved minimal residual disease-negative remission after CART and 50% of patients remain in remission at last follow-up. All patients with high disease burden at time of CART infusion (>M1 marrow) …

Randomized Clinical Trial Of A Self-Care And Communication Intervention For Parents Of Adolescent/Young Adults Undergoing High-Risk Cancer Treatment: A Report From The Children's Oncology Group., Joan E. Haase, Kristin Stegenga, Sheri L. Robb, Mary C. Hooke, Debra S. Burns, Patrick O. Monahan, Timothy E. Stump, Amanda K. Henley, Paul R. Haut, Brooke Cherven, Lona Roll, Anne-Marie Langevin, Rita H. Pickler, Karen Albritton, Deanna Hawkins, Erin Osterkamp, Pauline Mitby, Jackie Smith, Virginia R. Diaz, Erica Garcia-Frausto, Margo Moore

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BACKGROUND: Parents of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer offer primary support to their children and often experience their own high levels of distress, affecting parent-AYA communication and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: To reduce parent distress and improve communication during high-risk cancer treatment, we examined efficacy of a self-care and communication intervention for parents and indirect benefit for AYAs receiving a therapeutic music video (TMV) intervention.

METHODS: In this study, we conducted a multisite, randomized controlled trial with AYAs and parents enrolled as dyads (n = 110). Parents were randomized to intervention or low-dose control; all AYAs received TMV. …

Implementing Nih Behavior Change Consortium Treatment Fidelity Recommendations In A Multi-Site Randomized Controlled Trial Of An Active Music Engagement Intervention For Young Children With Cancer And Parents., Jessica A. Maclean, Kristin Stegenga, Amanda K. Henley, Sheri L. Robb

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Treatment fidelity is the use of methodological strategies to monitor and enhance reliability and validity of behavioral intervention trials. Despite availability of guidelines and checklists, treatment fidelity remains underreported, hindering evaluation, interpretation, and cross-study comparisons. Treatment fidelity is particularly important for music interventions given the inherent complexity of musical stimuli and flexibility required for tailored delivery. The purpose of this paper is to define and describe treatment fidelity strategies for our trial of a music-based play intervention for young children with cancer and parents grounded in the NIH Behavior Change Consortium Treatment Fidelity Recommendations. We report strategies for all 5 …

Abcb1 Snp Predicts Outcome In Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treated With Gemtuzumab Ozogamicin: A Report From Children's Oncology Group Aaml0531 Trial., Roya Rafiee, Lata Chauhan, Todd A. Alonzo, Yi-Cheng Wang, Ahlam Elmasry, Michael R. Loken, Jessica Pollard, Richard Aplenc, Susana Raimondi, Betsy A. Hirsch, Irwin D. Bernstein, A S. Gamis, Soheil Meshinchi, Jatinder K. Lamba

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Gemtuzumab-ozogamicin (GO), a humanized-anti-CD33 antibody linked with the toxin-calicheamicin-γ is a reemerging and promising drug for AML. Calicheamicin a key element of GO, induces DNA-damage and cell-death once the linked CD33-antibody facilitates its uptake. Calicheamicin efflux by the drug-transporter PgP-1 have been implicated in GO response thus in this study, we evaluated impact of ABCB1-SNPs on GO response. Genomic-DNA samples from 942 patients randomized to receive standard therapy with or without addition of GO (COG-AAML0531) were genotyped for ABCB1-SNPs. Our most interesting results show that for rs1045642, patients with minor-T-allele (CT/TT) had better outcome as compared to patients with CC …

Tisagenlecleucel Model-Based Cellular Kinetic Analysis Of Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T Cells., Andrew M. Stein, Stephan A. Grupp, John E. Levine, Theodore W. Laetsch, Michael A. Pulsipher, Michael W. Boyer, Keith August, Bruce L. Levine, Lori Tomassian, Sweta Shah, Mimi Leung, Pai-Hsi Huang, Rakesh Awasthi, Karen Thudium Mueller, Patricia A. Wood, Carl H. June

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Tisagenlecleucel is a chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy that facilitates the killing of CD19+ B cells. A model was developed for the kinetics of tisagenlecleucel and the impact of therapies for treating cytokine release syndrome (tocilizumab and corticosteroids) on expansion. Data from two phase II studies in pediatric and young adult relapsed/refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia were pooled to evaluate this model and evaluate extrinsic and intrinsic factors that may impact the extent of tisagenlecleucel expansion. The doubling time, initial decline half-life, and terminal half-life for tisagenlecleucel were 0.78, 4.3, and 220 days, respectively. No impact of tocilizumab or …

Inotuzumab Ozogamicin In Pediatric Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia., Deepa Bhojwani, Richard Sposto, Nirali N. Shah, Vilmarie Rodriguez, Constance Yuan, Maryalice Stetler-Stevenson, Maureen M. O'Brien, Jennifer L. Mcneer, Amrana Quereshi, Aurelie Cabannes, Paul Schlegel, Claudia Rossig, Luciano Dalla-Pozza, Keith August, Sarah Alexander, Jean-Pierre Bourquin, Michel Zwaan, Elizabeth A. Raetz, Mignon L. Loh, Susan R. Rheingold

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Although inotuzumab ozogamicin (InO) is recognized as an effective agent in relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults, data on safety and efficacy in pediatric patients are scarce. We report the use of InO in 51 children with relapsed/refractory ALL treated in the compassionate use program. In this heavily pretreated cohort, complete remission was achieved in 67% of patients with overt marrow disease. The majority (71%) of responders were negative for minimal residual disease. Responses were observed irrespective of cytogenetic subtype or number or type of prior treatment regimens. InO was well-tolerated; grade 3 hepatic transaminitis or hyperbilirubinemia were noted …

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

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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

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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

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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 …

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

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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

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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 …

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

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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 …

Novel Hla-Dp Region Susceptibility Loci Associated With Severe Acute Gvhd., Rakesh K. Goyal, S J. Lee, T Wang, M Trucco, M Haagenson, S R. Spellman, M Verneris, R E. Ferrell

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Despite HLA allele matching, significant acute GvHD remains a major barrier to successful unrelated donor BMT. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify recipient and donor genes associated with the risk of acute GvHD. A case-control design (grade III-IV versus no acute GvHD) and pooled GWA approach was used to study European-American recipients with hematological malignancies who received myeloablative conditioning non-T-cell-depleted first transplantation from HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1 allele level (10/10) matched unrelated donors. DNA samples were divided into three pools and tested in triplicate using the Affymetrix Genome-wide SNP Array 6.0. We identified three novel susceptibility …

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

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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

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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 …

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 …