Prolonged 14-day continuous infusion of high-dose ifosfamide for patients with relapsed and refractory high-grade osteosarcoma: a retrospective multicentre cohort study.

Background: The prognosis of patients with Relapsed/Refractory Osteosarcoma (R/R OS) remains dismal without an agreement on systemic therapy. The use of High-Dose Ifosfamide (14 g/sqm) with an external pump in outpatient setting (14-IFO) in R/R OS patients is limited. This study represents the first retrospective cohort analysis focused on evaluating the activity and toxicity of 14-IFO in this setting.

Off-label and compassionate use of targeted anticancer therapies: The experience of an Italian pediatric cancer center.

Introduction: In Europe, despite recent advances in clinical development, most of the drugs currently used to treat childhood cancers are adult medicines, prescribed outside of the authorized indication. In this context, a monocentric retrospective cohort analysis was conducted, evaluating pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients affected by onco-hematologic disease, treated with targeted therapies used off-label or as compassionate use.

Methods: The analysis was conducted on 45 patients aged less than or equal to 30 years with cancer, having received at least one targeted therapy prescribed as off-label or compassionate use at a large Italian pediatric center between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2021.

Omic approaches to pediatric bone sarcomas.

Over the last decade, next-generation sequencing technologies have improved our ability to assess biological aspects, at genomic and transcriptomic levels, on a large scale- and have been increasingly used for the management of adult cancers. However, their efficacy and feasibility within pediatrics is still under investigation. "Omic" approaches represent an opportunity to understand the oncogenic mechanisms driving the onset and progression of bone sarcoma and improve the clinical management of young patients with bone sarcomas.

Translation and cultural adaptation of the US National Cancer Institute's patient-reported outcome (PRO) version of the CTCAE for Italian pediatric oncology populations.

Purpose: This study intends to translate and make any necessary cultural adaptations of the Pediatric PRO-CTCAE version for Italian oncological patients aged 7-18 years and their caregivers.

Methods: The questionnaire has been forward/backward translated into Italian and subjected to detailed verification by fluent Italian speakers, children and their parents, for use in clinical trials in Italian populations. The Italian version includes 130 questions that assess 62 symptoms.

Toxoplasma gondii Dense Granule Antigen 1 stimulates apoptosis of monocytes through autocrine TGF-β signaling.

Monocyte/macrophages represent the first line of defense against protozoan parasites. Different mechanisms of monocyte suppression by Toxoplasma gondii that sustain parasite invasion and persistence have been described, including apoptosis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of microbial excretory–secretory polypeptides, namely the microneme protein MIC3 and the dense granule antigen GRA1, on apoptosis of monocytes from patients with congenital toxoplasmosis and healthy individuals.