http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified mutations responsible for more than half of a subtype of childhood brain tumor that takes a high toll on patients. Researchers also found evidence the tumors are susceptible to drugs already in development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-genome-sequencing-mutations-blame-majority.html Genetics Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:00:13 EST news285140598 Recently, research using adoptive T-cell immunotherapy in blood cancers have shown success, most notably in the case of a seven-year-old girl whose leukemia went into remission using altered T-cells and a disabled HIV virus. Now, two of the pediatric cancer scientists involved in the T-cell/HIV study will develop a new experimental cancer immunotherapy treatment option for children with high-risk solid tumors based on the same novel approach that uses a patient's own T-cells to attack tumor cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-immunotherapy-children-deadly-solid-tumors.html Cancer Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:44:02 EST news284226231 Two University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that the protein receptor Mer is overexpressed in many leukemias, and that inhibition of this Mer receptor results in the death of leukemia cells – without affecting surrounding, healthy cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-therapies-aml-mer-receptor-effect.html Cancer Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:40:01 EST news282215658 A multi-institutional team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers has identified a molecular pathway that appears to be essential for the growth and spread of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. In their report in the Feb. 28 issue of Cell, they show that blocking this pathway – which involves interactions between tumor cells and the surrounding tissues – leads to regression of all four molecular subtypes of medulloblastoma in several mouse models. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-growth-factor-essential-common-malignant.html Cancer Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:33:45 EST news281277209 About 60 percent of pediatric cancer patients experience malnourishment during treatment. At that point, patients and families have a choice: tube feeding or IV nutrition supplement. Which would you choose? A study published this week in the Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing shows that families' perceptions, especially of the discomfort of tube feeding, leads to choosing IV over tube – despite the fact that tube feeding is usually the better choice, associated with better gut function and lower rates of infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-tube-iv-malnourished-pediatric-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:20:06 EST news279986797 A University of Colorado Cancer Center review published this week in the journal Lancet Oncology describes possible long-term side-effects of new, targeted therapies in pediatric cancer patients: what we don't know may hurt us. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-long-term-side-effects-therapies-pediatric-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:02:02 EST news279460915 (HealthDay)—The anti-cancer drug Gleevec (imatinib) has received new U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to treat the most common type of pediatric cancer, affecting some 2,900 children each year, the agency said Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-gleevec-latest-pediatric-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:55:35 EST news278355318 Genome sequencing data once regarded as junk is now being used to gain important clues to help understand disease. The latest example comes from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, where scientists have developed an approach to mine the repetitive segments of DNA at the ends of chromosomes for insights into cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-gene-sequencing-junk-clues-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:41:21 EST news278257273 Researchers at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and the University of Montreal have found a possible heredity mechanism that predisposes children to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of blood cancer in children. According to their findings published in Genome Research, the presence of a genetic defect in the egg or sperm from which children having ALL arise may be a prerequisite for the disease to develop. A significant number of children with ALL are thought to inherit a rare PRDM9 gene variant responsible for the abnormal sex cells–a gene variant that puts their own children at risk of having ALL-predisposed offspring. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-genetic-defect-sex-cells-predispose.html Genetics Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:27:43 EST news274966056 Research led by the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified a fusion gene responsible for almost 30 percent of a rare subtype of childhood leukemia with an extremely poor prognosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-gene-sequencing-abnormal-rare-childhood.html Cancer Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:39:30 EST news271949948 Researchers have discovered two gene variants that raise the risk of the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma. Using automated technology to perform genome-wide association studies on DNA from thousands of subjects, the study broadens understanding of how gene changes may make a child susceptible to this early childhood cancer, as well as causing a tumor to progress. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-gene-variants-neuroblastoma-tumor.html Genetics Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:53:28 EST news265978391 About 75 percent of children with leukemia who take chemotherapy face life-threatening heart problems as they age, but an international study led by a University of Rochester Medical Center investigator shows that giving a cardio-protective drug during cancer treatment may prevent the damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-drug-hearts-childhood-leukemia-survivors.html Cancer Mon, 04 Jun 2012 10:52:58 EST news258025955 To speed progress against cancer and other diseases, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project today announced the largest-ever release of comprehensive human cancer genome data for free access by the global scientific community. The amount of information released more than doubles the volume of high-coverage, whole genome data currently available from all human genome sources combined. This information is valuable not just to cancer researchers, but also to scientists studying almost any disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-world-largest-comprehensive-human-cancer.html Genetics Tue, 29 May 2012 10:05:56 EST news257504732 Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have found that adolescents newly diagnosed with cancer have strong concerns about their ability to have children as cancer survivors. They also found that standard health-related quality-of-life survey tools used to elicit answers from teens with cancer did not accurately reflect these concerns. Parents, who often answer survey questions as proxies, often inaccurately relayed their child's reproductive concerns. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-moffitt-adolescents-cancer-future-reproductive.html Pediatrics Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:18:04 EST news254765878 (Medical Xpress) -- Parents and adult caregivers of pediatric cancer patients prefer personal consultations with trusted health care providers over online sources for information about their child's illness, according to a University at Buffalo research study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-parents-children-cancer-distrust-online.html Health Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:41:27 EST news251444470 A study by the Children's Oncology Group (COG) reported that five-year survival for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, the most common type of pediatric cancer) among children treated through COG clinical trials increased from 83.7 percent during the period 1990-1994 to 90.4 percent in the period 2000-2005. The improvements in survival were observed among all children over age 1 regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or subtype of ALL. This analysis, which is the largest study to date of ALL survival, showed similar gains in 10-year survival. The findings are published March 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-steady-long-term-survival-children-acute.html Cancer Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:09 EST news250779264 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has launched a freely available website for published research results from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP). The PCGP is the largest effort to date aimed at sequencing the entire genomes of both normal and cancer cells from pediatric cancer patients, comparing differences in the DNA to identify genetic mistakes that lead to childhood cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-st-jude-children-hospital-website.html Genetics Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:37:09 EST news245511424 Researchers have discovered that a subtype of leukemia characterized by a poor prognosis is fueled by mutations in pathways distinctly different from a seemingly similar leukemia associated with a much better outcome. The findings from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) highlight a possible new strategy for treating patients with this more aggressive cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-cancer-sequencing-potential-approaches-combat.html Cancer Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:23 EST news245503237 By studying tumor biology at the molecular level, researchers are gaining a deeper understanding of drug resistance -- and how to avoid it by designing pediatric cancer treatments tailored to specific mutations in a child's DNA. In a fruitful collaboration, pediatric oncologists and biochemists are targeting neuroblastoma, an often-deadly childhood cancer of the peripheral nervous system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-basic-biology-clues-neuroblastoma-treatments.html Cancer Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:00:01 EST news240058366 (Medical Xpress) -- Individuals who are treated for cancer during childhood have a significantly higher risk of developing gastrointestinal (GI) complications — from mild to severe — later in life, according to a study led by the University of California, San Francisco. The findings underscore the need for childhood cancer survivors and their physicians to be aware of these risk factors to ensure patients’ ongoing health care needs are met. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-childhood-cancer-survivors-higher-future.html Cancer Fri, 20 May 2011 08:44:40 EST news225099849