Long-term risk and characteristics of cerebrovascular events after upper body radiotherapy among childhood cancer survivors in the DCCSS-LATER cohort.

Cerebrovascular events (CVEs) are serious late adverse events among childhood cancer survivors. We estimated the incidence and risk factors of symptomatic CVEs and described the clinical characteristics among childhood cancer survivors after upper body radiotherapy. The Dutch Childhood Cancer Survivor Study LATER cohort study includes 5-year childhood cancer survivors diagnosed View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Long-term quality of survival after pediatric low-grade glioma.

Background: Low-grade glioma is the most common brain tumor in children with different modes of treatment and a high overall survival. Low-grade glioma is considered a chronic disease, since residual tumor is present in many children. The tumor and its treatment lead to acquired brain injury with diverse consequences for later life based on factors like the diverse tumor locations, treatment(s) applied, neurofibromatosis type 1, and age at diagnosis.

The course of health-related quality of life after the diagnosis of childhood cancer: a national cohort study.

Background: Comprehensive insight in the longitudinal development of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after childhood cancer diagnosis could improve quality of care. Thus, we aimed to study the course and biopsychosocial determinants of HRQOL in a unique national cohort of children with cancer.

Methods: HRQOL of 2154 children with cancer was longitudinally reported (median: 3 reports) between diagnosis and 5 years after, using the pediatric quality of life inventory generic core scales (PedsQL).

Longitudinal development of fatigue after treatment for childhood cancer: a national cohort study.

Background: Fatigue is a distressing and prevalent long-term sequela of treatment for childhood cancer, and there is a need for longitudinal studies to investigate the development of fatigue over time. The objective of this study was to calculate growth-curves for the longitudinal development of fatigue after treatment for childhood cancer, and to investigate the effects of biopsychosocial predictors.

Materials And Methods: Participants were recruited from a patient monitoring program and data extracted from medical records.

Mineralocorticoid receptor status in the human brain after dexamethasone treatment: a single case study.

Background: Synthetic glucocorticoids like dexamethasone can cause severe neuropsychiatric effects. They preferentially bind to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) over the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). High dosages result in strong GR activation but likely also result in lower MR activation based on GR-mediated negative feedback on cortisol levels.

Biological background of pediatric medulloblastoma and ependymoma: a review from a translational research perspective.

Survival rates of pediatric brain tumor patients have significantly improved over the years due to developments in diagnostic techniques, neurosurgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and supportive care. However, brain tumors are still an important cause of cancer-related deaths in children. Prognosis is still highly dependent on clinical characteristics, such as the age of the patient, tumor type, stage, and localization, but increased knowledge about the genetic and biological features of these tumors is being obtained and might be useful to further improve outcome for these patients.

Differential expression and prognostic significance of SOX genes in pediatric medulloblastoma and ependymoma identified by microarray analysis.

The objective of this study was to identify differentially expressed and prognostically important genes in pediatric medulloblastoma and pediatric ependymoma by Affymetrix microarray analysis. Among the most discriminative genes, three members of the SOX transcription factor family were differentially expressed. Both SOX4 and SOX11 were significantly overexpressed in medulloblastoma (median, 11-fold and 5-fold, respectively) compared with ependymoma and normal cerebellum.

Various components of the insulin-like growth factor system in tumor tissue, cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood of pediatric medulloblastoma and ependymoma patients.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system plays an important role in neuronal development and may contribute to the development of brain tumors. In this study, we studied mRNA expression levels of IGFs, insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) and insulin-like growth factor receptors (IGFRs) in 27 pediatric medulloblastomas, 13 pediatric ependymomas and 5 control cerebella. Compared to normal cerebellum, mRNA levels of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 were significantly increased in medulloblastomas and ependymomas.

Increased total-Tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid of pediatric hydrocephalus and brain tumor patients.

Total Tau (t-Tau), hyperphosphorylated Tau (p-Tau(181P)) and beta-amyloid(1-42) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have shown to be markers of neuronal and axonal degeneration in various neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the presence of a brain tumor and hydrocephalus on t-Tau, p-Tau(181P) and beta-amyloid(1-42) levels in CSF of pediatric patients. t-Tau, p-Tau(181P) and beta-amyloid(1-42) levels were simultaneously quantified by xMAP technology in 22 lumbar and 15 ventricular CSF samples from newly diagnosed pediatric brain tumor patients and 39 lumbar and 12 ventricular CSF samples from pediatric patients without a brain tumor.

Identification of novel biomarkers in pediatric primitive neuroectodermal tumors and ependymomas by proteome-wide analysis.

The aim of this study was to identify aberrantly expressed proteins in pediatric primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) and ependymomas. Tumor tissue of 29 PNET and 12 ependymoma patients was subjected to 2-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis. Gel analysis resulted in 79 protein spots being differentially expressed between PNETs and ependymomas (p < 0.

Identification of apolipoprotein A-II in cerebrospinal fluid of pediatric brain tumor patients by protein expression profiling.

Background: Our aim was to detect differences in protein expression profiles of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from pediatric patients with and without brain tumors.

Methods: We used surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and Q10 ProteinChip arrays to compare protein expression profiles of CSF from 32 pediatric brain tumor patients and 70 pediatric control patients. A protein with high discriminatory power was isolated and identified by subsequent anion-exchange and reversed-phase fractionation, gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry.