Delving into the clinical impact of NETs in pediatric cancer.

Pediatric cancer, a complex and heterogeneous group of diseases, continues to challenge medical research and treatment strategies. Despite advances in precision medicine and immunotherapy, certain aggressive subtypes of pediatric cancer are resistant to conventional therapies, requiring further exploration of potential therapeutic targets. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), net-like structures released by neutrophils, have emerged as a potential player in the pediatric cancer landscape.

ECLIM-SEHOP: how to develop a platform to conduct academic trials for childhood cancer.

Introduction: ECLIM-SEHOP platform was created in 2017. Its main objective is to establish the infrastructure to allow Spanish participation into international academic collaborative clinical trials, observational studies, and registries in pediatric oncology. The aim of this manuscript is to describe the activity conducted by ECLIM-SEHOP since its creation.

Evaluation of circulating tumor DNA by electropherogram analysis and methylome profiling in high-risk neuroblastomas.

Background: Liquid biopsy has emerged as a promising, non-invasive diagnostic approach in oncology because the analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) reflects the precise status of the disease at diagnosis, progression, and response to treatment. DNA methylation profiling is also a potential solution for sensitive and specific detection of many cancers. The combination of both approaches, DNA methylation analysis from ctDNA, provides an extremely useful and minimally invasive tool with high relevance in patients with childhood cancer.

Personalized Medicine in Infant Population with Cancer: Pharmacogenetic Pilot Study of Polymorphisms Related to Toxicity and Response to Chemotherapy.

Background: Pharmacogenetics is a personalized medicine tool that aims to optimize treatments by adapting them to each individual's genetics, maximizing their efficacy while minimizing their toxicity. Infants with cancer are especially vulnerable, and their co-morbidities have vital repercussions. The study of their pharmacogenetics is new in this clinical field.

Adolescent cancer care: What has changed in Spain in the past decade?

Introduction And Objectives: In 2012, the Adolescents with Cancer Working Group published the results of a survey on care delivery for the adolescent population in Spain as a starting point for future intervention. The aim of this nationwide survey was to outline the current situation and assess whether the implemented strategies have resulted in changes in care delivery.

Material And Methods: Survey consisting of the same items analysed and published in 2012.

Results of a survey on the treatment of adolescents and young adult (AYA) sarcoma patients in Spain at present time.

Introduction: We aimed to analyse health care services for adolescents and young adults (AYA) with sarcomas in Spain.

Methods: A survey was sent to all Spanish cancer centres, including questions about demographic, facilities, and treatment strategies for AYAs with sarcomas in the last 2 years.

Results: Thirty-five units participated in the survey, 17 paediatric and 15 adult units.

Germline variant in Ctcf links mental retardation to Wilms tumor predisposition.

CTCF germline mutations have been related to MRD21. We report the first bilateral Wilms tumor suffered by a MRD21 patient carrying an unreported CTCF missense variant in a zinc finger domain of CTCF protein. We found that germline heterozygous variant I446K became homozygous in the tumor due to a loss of heterozygosity rearrangement affecting the whole q arm on chromosome 16.

Germline Predisposition to Pediatric Cancer, from Next Generation Sequencing to Medical Care.

Knowledge about genetic predisposition to pediatric cancer is constantly expanding. The categorization and clinical management of the best-known syndromes has been refined over the years. Meanwhile, new genes for pediatric cancer susceptibility are discovered every year.

Retinoblastoma and mosaic 13q deletion: a case report.

Background: Patients with 13q-syndrome are at risk of retinoblastoma when the RB1 gene, located in the chromosomal band 13q14.2, is deleted. This syndrome is frequently associated with congenital malformations and developmental delay, although these signs could be mild.

Next-Generation Sequencing Identifies Potential Actionable Targets in Paediatric Sarcomas.

Bone and soft-tissue sarcomas represent 13% of all paediatric malignancies. International contributions to introduce next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches into clinical application are currently developing. We present the results from the Precision Medicine program for children with sarcomas at a reference centre.

Impact of COVID-19 in paediatric early-phase cancer clinical trials in Europe: A report from the Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC) consortium.

Introduction: Data regarding real-world impact on cancer clinical research during COVID-19 are scarce. We analysed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the conduct of paediatric cancer phase I-II trials in Europe through the experience of the Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC).

Methods: A survey was sent to all ITCC-accredited early-phase clinical trial hospitals including questions about impact on staff activities, recruitment, patient care, supply of investigational products and legal aspects, between 1st March and 30th April 2020.

Publisher Correction: Clinical Features of Neuroblastoma With 11q Deletion: An Increase in Relapse Probabilities In Localized And 4S Stages.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Metabolomic profiling in neuroblastoma.

Background And Objectives: Previous studies on several cancer types show that metabolomics provides a potentially useful noninvasive screening approach for outcome prediction and accurate response to treatment assessment. Neuroblastoma (NB) accounts for at least 15% of cancer-related deaths in children. Although current risk-based treatment approaches in NB have resulted in improved outcome, survival for high-risk patients remains poor.

Clinical Features of Neuroblastoma With 11q Deletion: An Increase in Relapse Probabilities In Localized And 4S Stages.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a heterogeneous tumor with an extremely diverse prognosis according to clinical and genetic factors, such as the presence of an 11q deletion (11q-del). A multicentric study using data from a national neuroblastic tumor database was conducted. This study compared the most important features of NB patients: presence of 11q-del, presence of MYCN amplification (MNA) and remaining cases.

[Early clinical trials in paediatric oncology in Spain: a nationwide perspective].

Introduction: Cancer is the leading cause of death between the first year of life and adolescence, and some types of diseases are still a major challenge in terms of cure. There is, therefore, a major need for new drugs. Recent findings in cancer biology open the door to the development of targeted therapies against individual molecular changes, as well as immunotherapy.

Interoperability Architecture for a Paediatric Oncology European Reference Network.

With the Directive 2011/24/EU on patients' rights in cross-border healthcare and the related delegated decisions, the European Commission defined a legal framework on how healthcare shall be organised by European Union (EU) member states (MS) where patients can move beyond the borders of their home country. Among other aspects, Article 12 of the directive is concerned with supporting MS with the development of so called European Reference Networks (ERN), dedicated to the treatment of "patients with a medical condition requiring a particular concentration of expertise in medical domains where expertise is rare". In the "European Expert Paediatric Oncology Reference Network for Diagnostics and Treatment" (ExPO-r-Net) project, the establishment of such an ERN in the domain of Paediatric Oncology is currently piloted.