Invasive fungal disease (IFD) remains a common and serious complication in children treated for leukaemia. Antifungal prescription in children with leukaemia presents unique challenges, particularly due to variation in IFD risk between and within leukaemia treatment protocols, drug toxicities and interactions between antifungals and chemotherapeutic agents. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• May 2022

The induction of DNA damage has been employed as an anticancer strategy for more than 100years, first starting with the use of radiation to treat stomach cancer followed by the first uses of DNA-damaging chemotherapy to treat childhood leukemia. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• January 2022

Patients whose leukemias harbor a rearrangement of the Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL/KMT2A) gene have a poor prognosis, especially when the disease strikes in infants. The poor clinical outcome linked to this aggressive disease and the detrimental treatment side-effects, particularly in children, warrant the urgent development of more effective and cancer-selective therapeutics. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• January 2022

A higher incidence of pediatric intracranial germ cell tumors (iGCTs) in Asian countries compared with Western countries has been reported. In Malaysia, the literature regarding pediatric iGCTs have been nonexistent. The aim of this study was to review the management, survival, and long-term outcomes of pediatric iGCTs at a single tertiary center in Malaysia. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• October 2021

The goal of a clinical quality registry is to deliver immediate gains in survival and quality of life by delivering timely feedback to practitioners, thereby ensuring every patient receives the best existing treatment. We are developing an Australian Brain Cancer Registry (ABCR) to identify, describe, and measure the impact of the variation and gaps in brain cancer care from the time of diagnosis to the end of life. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• August 2021

Unlike adults, malignant melanoma in children and adolescents is rare. In adult melanoma, significant progress in understanding tumor biology and new treatments, including targeted therapies and immunotherapy have markedly improved overall survival. In sharp contrast, there is a paucity of data on the biology and clinical behavior of pediatric melanoma. We report a national case series of all pediatric and adolescent malignant melanoma presenting to ANZCHOG Childhood Cancer Centers in Australia and New Zealand. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• April 2021

Immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of cancers by harnessing the power of the immune system to eradicate malignant tissue. However, it is well recognised that some cancers are highly resistant to these therapies, which is in part attributed to the immunosuppressive landscape of the tumour microenvironment (TME). The contexture of the TME is highly heterogeneous and contains a complex architecture of immune, stromal, vascular and tumour cells in addition to acellular components such as the extracellular matrix. While understanding the dynamics of the TME has been instrumental in predicting durable responses to immunotherapy and developing new treatment strategies, recent evidence challenges the fundamental paradigms of how tumours can effectively subvert immunosurveillance. Here, we discuss the various immunosuppressive features of the TME and how fine-tuning these mechanisms, rather than ablating them completely, may result in a more comprehensive and balanced anti-tumour response. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• January 2021

Immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) results in durable responses in individuals with some cancers, but not all patients respond to treatment. ICT improves CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) function, but changes in tumor antigen-specific CTLs post-ICT that correlate with successful responses have not been well characterized. Here, we studied murine tumor models with dichotomous responses to ICT. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• November 2020

Pesticide exposure is a suspected risk factor for childhood cancer. We investigated the risk of developing childhood cancer in relation to parental occupational exposure to pesticides in Switzerland for the period 1990-2015. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• August 2020

Children with Down syndrome (constitutive trisomy 21) that develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia (DS-ALL) have a 3-fold increased likelihood of treatment-related mortality coupled with a higher cumulative incidence of relapse, compared with other children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• July 2020