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Boosting the influenza vaccine schedule in children with cancer: a prospective open-label study

Current immunization guidelines recommend one dose of influenza vaccine for children aged ≥9 years and two doses for younger or vaccine-naïve children. However, children receiving chemotherapy have an attenuated immune response. We performed a prospective open-label study in children undergoing treatment for cancer at Perth Children's Hospital, Western Australia, to examine the safety and efficacy of a boosted influenza schedule.

A novel transcriptional signature identifies T-cell infiltration in high-risk paediatric cancer

Molecular profiling of the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) has enabled the rational choice of immunotherapies in some adult cancers. In contrast, the TIME of paediatric cancers is relatively unexplored. We speculated that a more refined appreciation of the TIME in childhood cancers, rather than a reliance on commonly used biomarkers such as tumour mutation burden (TMB), neoantigen load and PD-L1 expression, is an essential prerequisite for improved immunotherapies in childhood solid cancers.

Long-term outcomes of symptomatic optic pathway glioma: 32-year experience at a single Western Australian tertiary pediatric oncology center

Optic pathway gliomas (OPGs) are associated with significant risk of visual and endocrine morbidity, but data on long-term outcomes in symptomatic patients is sparse. This study reviews the clinical course, disease progression, survival outcomes and long-term sequelae in pediatric patients with symptomatic OPGs in our institution over three decades.

Temporal changes in childhood cancer incidence and survival by stage at diagnosis in Australia, 2000–2017

The Toronto Paediatric Cancer Stage Guidelines are a compendium of staging systems developed to facilitate collection of consistent and comparable data on stage at diagnosis for childhood cancers by cancer registries.

ONC201 in Combination with Paxalisib for the Treatment of H3K27-Altered Diffuse Midline Glioma

Diffuse midline gliomas (DMG), including diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG), are the most lethal of childhood cancers. Palliative radiotherapy is the only established treatment, with median patient survival of 9 to 11 months. ONC201 is a DRD2 antagonist and ClpP agonist that has shown preclinical and emerging clinical efficacy in DMG. 

A multi-institutional retrospective pooled outcome analysis of molecularly annotated pediatric supratentorial ZFTA-fused ependymoma

ZFTA-RELA (formerly known as c11orf-RELA) fused supratentorial ependymoma has been recognized as a novel entity in the 2016 WHO classification of CNS tumors and further defined in the recent 2021 edition.

Identification of fatty acid amide hydrolase as a metastasis suppressor in breast cancer

Clinical management of breast cancer (BC) metastasis remains an unmet need as it accounts for 90% of BC-associated mortality. Although the luminal subtype, which represents >70% of BC cases, is generally associated with a favorable outcome, it is susceptible to metastatic relapse as late as 15 years after treatment discontinuation.

Renal Masses in Childhood: An Australian Perspective

Childhood renal masses comprise a heterogeneous group of conditions that have a wide range of presentations. This review outlines an approach to the diagnostic work-up of childhood renal masses and discusses the most common presentations and treatments. Renal tumours make up 5% of childhood cancer in Australia, with Wilms tumour being the most common under age 10 years.

A New Model to Investigate the Action of Radiation and Cigarette Smoke on Head and Neck Cancer Cells

Smokers are at an increased risk of developing mucosal head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCCs) and have a worse prognosis when treated. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the latter has not been established. We therefore developed an in vitro model to investigate the effects of radiation and smoking on mucosal HNSCCs. 

Pharmacological targeting and characterization of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels (VGSCs) expressed in the high-grade glioma microenvironment

High-grade glioma (HGG) cells reactivate neurodevelopmental programs regulated by ion channels to drive tumor progression. The activity of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) is fundamental to development, a target of blood-brain barrier (BBB)-permeable FDA-approved drugs, and aids tumor advancement in several cancers. However, the contribution of VGSC activity to HGG pathology remains unknown.