Persistent Gut Microbial Dysbiosis in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) During Chemotherapy.

Prophylactic or therapeutic antibiotic use along with chemotherapy treatment potentially has a long-standing adverse effect on the resident gut microbiota. We have established a case-control cohort of 32 pediatric and adolescent acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients and 25 healthy siblings (sibling controls) to assess the effect of chemotherapy as well as antibiotic prophylaxis on the gut microbiota. We observe that the microbiota diversity and richness of the ALL group is significantly lower than that of the control group at diagnosis and during chemotherapy.

Comparative Tumor RNA Sequencing Analysis for Difficult-to-Treat Pediatric and Young Adult Patients With Cancer.

Importance: Pediatric cancers are epigenetic diseases; therefore, considering tumor gene expression information is necessary for a complete understanding of the tumorigenic processes.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and utility of incorporating comparative gene expression information into the precision medicine framework for difficult-to-treat pediatric and young adult patients with cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study was conducted as a consortium between the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative and clinical genomic trials.

Gastrointestinal microbial populations can distinguish pediatric and adolescent Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at the time of disease diagnosis.

Background: An estimated 15,000 children and adolescents under the age of 19 years are diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and other tumors in the USA every year. All children and adolescent acute leukemia patients will undergo chemotherapy as part of their treatment regimen. Fortunately, survival rates for most pediatric cancers have improved at a remarkable pace over the past three decades, and the overall survival rate is greater than 90 % today.

Molecular Genetic Profiling of Adolescent Glassy Cell Carcinoma of the Cervix Reveals Targetable EGFR Amplification with Potential Therapeutic Implications.

Glassy cell carcinoma of the cervix (GCCC) is a very rare and aggressive form of cervical cancer. An adolescent female with advanced metastatic disease was enrolled in our genomic profiling research protocol. We identified high-level amplification of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Yes-associated protein-1 (YAP1), which led to the addition of EGFR inhibitors to the chemotherapy regimen.

Successful Treatment of Genetically Profiled Pediatric Extranodal NK/T-Cell Lymphoma Targeting Oncogenic STAT3 Mutation.

Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) is a distinct type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma predominantly observed in Asian and Latin American adult males. A 12-year-old Hispanic female diagnosed with ENKTCL was enrolled in our genomic profiling research protocol. We identified specific somatic alterations consistent with diagnosis of ENKTCL as well as oncogenic mutations in MAP2K1 and STAT3.

Adolescent and young adult patients with cancer: a milieu of unique features.

Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer are a unique category of patients who, depending on age at time of diagnosis, might receive treatment from oncologists specializing either in the treatment of children or adults. In the USA, AYA oncology generally encompasses patients 15-39 years of age. AYA patients with cancer typically present with diseases that span the spectrum from 'paediatric' cancers (such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia [ALL] and brain tumours) to 'adult' tumours (such as breast cancer and melanoma), as well as cancers that are largely unique to their age group (such as testicular cancer and bone tumours).