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PhD pathway program ensuring bright future for clinical research in WATwo outstanding Perth Children’s Hospital clinicians will be supported to pursue a career in medical research, paving the way for more clinician-scientists in Western Australia.
Research
Presence of onco-fetal neighborhoods in hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with relapse and response to immunotherapyOnco-fetal reprogramming of the tumor ecosystem induces fetal developmental signatures in the tumor microenvironment, leading to immunosuppressive features. Here, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and bulk RNA sequencing to delineate specific cell subsets involved in hepatocellular carcinoma relapse and response to immunotherapy.
Research
Verschlimmbesserung: Craniospinal Radiotherapy Is Essential in WNT Medulloblastoma PatientsStandard-risk WNT medulloblastoma patients have an excellent prognosis using the combination of standard dose craniospinal radiotherapy (CSI) followed by platinum and alkylator based chemotherapy. A recent pilot study that attempted to completely omit radiotherapy was terminated early as all patients relapsed rapidly. The study highlights that therapy is the most important prognostic factor, with CSI still required to cure even the most favorable subgroup of medulloblastoma patients.
Research
Intravascular Tumor Extension and Pulmonary Tumor Embolism in Children With Solid Malignancies: Is There a Role for Inferior Vena Cava Filters?Intravascular tumor extension is an uncommon complication of solid malignancies that, when present in the inferior vena cava (IVC), can result in fatal pulmonary tumor embolism. Currently, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery are the mainstays of treatment; however, there are no consensus guidelines for management.
Research
From signalling pathways to targeted therapies: unravelling glioblastoma’s secrets and harnessing two decades of progressGlioblastoma, a rare, and highly lethal form of brain cancer, poses significant challenges in terms of therapeutic resistance, and poor survival rates for both adult and paediatric patients alike. Despite advancements in brain cancer research driven by a technological revolution, translating our understanding of glioblastoma pathogenesis into improved clinical outcomes remains a critical unmet need.
Research
Temporal changes in childhood cancer incidence and survival by stage at diagnosis in Australia, 2000–2017The Toronto Paediatric Cancer Stage Guidelines are a compendium of staging systems developed to facilitate collection of consistent and comparable data on stage at diagnosis for childhood cancers by cancer registries.
Research
Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of pre-malignant liver reveals disease-associated hepatocyte state with HCC prognostic potentialCurrent approaches to staging chronic liver diseases have limited utility for predicting liver cancer risk. Here, we employed single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) to characterize the cellular microenvironment of healthy and pre-malignant livers using two distinct mouse models.
Research
Multiomic neuropathology improves diagnostic accuracy in pediatric neuro-oncologyThe large diversity of central nervous system (CNS) tumor types in children and adolescents results in disparate patient outcomes and renders accurate diagnosis challenging. In this study, we prospectively integrated DNA methylation profiling and targeted gene panel sequencing with blinded neuropathological reference diagnostics for a population-based cohort of more than 1,200 newly diagnosed pediatric patients with CNS tumors, to assess their utility in routine neuropathology.
Research
Prospective longitudinal evaluation of treatment-related toxicity and health-related quality of life during the first year of treatment for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemiaPediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy is accompanied by treatment-related toxicities (TRTs) and impaired quality of life. In Australia and New Zealand, children with ALL are treated with either Children's Oncology Group (COG) or international Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (iBFM) Study Group-based therapy.
Research
Multi-omics analysis defines highly refractory RAS burdened immature subgroup of infant acute lymphoblastic leukemiaKMT2A-rearranged infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) represents the most refractory type of childhood leukemia. To uncover the molecular heterogeneity of this disease, we perform RNA sequencing, methylation array analysis, whole exome and targeted deep sequencing on 84 infants with KMT2A-rearranged leukemia.