Publications by authors named "Margarita Belogurova"

Central nervous system (CNS) tumors in children comprise a highly heterogenous and complex group of diseases. Historically, diagnosis and confirmation of these tumors were routinely based on histological examination. However, recently obtained data demonstrate that such a diagnostic approach is not completely accurate and could lead to misdiagnosis.

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In children with cancer, the issues related to the quality of life are becoming increasingly important together with the improvement of survival rates. This creates an entirely new challenge - minimizing the toxicity of the antitumor therapy without reducing its effectiveness. One of the specific side effects of the antitumor therapy is gonadotoxicity, which negatively affects both the somatic and mental state of the survivors.

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Background: Flow cytometry (FCM) plays a crucial role in the differential diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia (BL) and B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL). The presence of surface IgM (sIgM) alone or with light chain restriction indicates a mature blast phenotype (BIV by EGIL) and is usually observed in BL. However, sIgM expression could also be detected in transitional BCP-ALL cases.

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The value of adding rituximab to chemotherapy in children with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) is still insufficiently studied. We enrolled 231 patients [mean age 9 years old (range 2-17); male:female ratio 3·4:1] with Burkitt (BL, 179 patients, 76·7%), diffuse large B-cell (32 patients, 14%), primary mediastinal B-cell (14 patients, 6%), and other (6 patients, 2·6%) B-cell lymphomas in a prospective study of immuno-chemotherapy. Stages were I-II in 32% and III-IV in 68% of the patients.

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The metronomic therapy concept uses low doses of continuously applied chemotherapeutic, anti-angiogenetic, and immunomodulating drugs. Twenty patients with recurrent and 3 with refractory high-risk neuroblastoma were treated by the metronomic concept using celecoxib, cyclophosphamide, vinblastine, and etoposide for up to 24 months. The outcome was compared to 274 matched patients with a first recurrence from stage 4 neuroblastoma using the variables time from diagnosis to first recurrence, number of organs involved, and MYCN amplification.

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Purpose: Neutropenia is a common complication from chemotherapy, limiting optimal dosing and treatment. Lipegfilgrastim is a long-acting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor developed for the management of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. The objectives of this phase 1, multinational, open-label, single-arm study were to characterize the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of a single body weight-adjusted dose of lipegfilgrastim and to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of the drug in children with Ewing family of tumors or rhabdomyosarcoma treated with myelosuppressive chemotherapy.

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Pediatric mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHLs) are highly aggressive malignant tumors that are curable with chemotherapy (ChT). High-dose methotrexate (MTX) is considered indispensable for successful treatment, but this therapy frequently induces severe mucositis and infectious complications, especially in induction, which can cause treatment failure. A prospective multicenter trial of combined immunochemotherapy for advanced-stage B-NHL with rituximab and the modified NHL-BFM-90 protocol was conducted.

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