This report of initial and durable responses of recurrent GBM to immune checkpoint inhibition may have implications for GBM in general and other hypermutant cancers arising from primary (genetic predisposition) or secondary MMRD.
The importance of childhood factors in the development of IBD is confirmed. The duration-response protective association between breast-feeding and subsequent development of IBD requires further evaluation, as does the protective effect associated with a childhood vegetable garden.
Global Retinoblastoma Study Group IMPORTANCE Early diagnosis of retinoblastoma, the most common intraocular cancer, can save both a child's life and vision. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many children across the world are diagnosed late. To our knowledge, the clinical presentation of retinoblastoma has never been assessed on a global scale.OBJECTIVES To report the retinoblastoma stage at diagnosis in patients across the world during a single year, to investigate associations between clinical variables and national income level, and to investigate risk factors for advanced disease at diagnosis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA total of 278 retinoblastoma treatment centers were recruited from June 2017 through December 2018 to participate in a cross-sectional analysis of treatment-naive patients with retinoblastoma who were diagnosed in 2017. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESAge at presentation, proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, and tumor stage and metastasis. RESULTSThe cohort included 4351 new patients from 153 countries; the median age at diagnosis was 30.5 (interquartile range, 18.3-45.9) months, and 1976 patients (45.4%) were female. Most patients (n = 3685 [84.7%]) were from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Globally, the most common indication for referral was leukocoria (n = 2638 [62.8%]), followed by strabismus (n = 429 [10.2%]) and proptosis (n = 309 [7.4%]). Patients from high-income countries (HICs) were diagnosed at a median age of 14.1 months, with 656 of 666 (98.5%) patients having intraocular retinoblastoma and 2 (0.3%) having metastasis. Patients from low-income countries were diagnosed at a median age of 30.5 months, with 256 of 521 (49.1%) having extraocular retinoblastoma and 94 of 498 (18.9%) having metastasis. Lower national income level was associated with older presentation age, higher proportion of locally advanced disease and distant metastasis, and smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma. Advanced disease at diagnosis was more common in LMICs even after adjusting for age (odds ratio for low-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 17.92 [95% CI,, and for lower-middle-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 5.74 [95% CI,). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThis study is estimated to have included more than half of all new retinoblastoma cases worldwide in 2017. Children from LMICs, where the main global retinoblastoma burden lies, presented at an older age with more advanced disease and demonstrated a smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, likely because many do not reach a childbearing age. Given that retinoblastoma is curable, these data are concerning and mandate intervention at national and international levels. Further studies are needed to investigate factors, other than age at presentation, that may be associated with advanced disease in LMICs.
Disseminated glioneuronal tumors of childhood are rare. We present a retrospective IRB-approved review of the clinical course and frequency of BRAF mutations in disseminated glioneuronal tumors at two institutions. Defining features of our cohort include diffuse leptomeningeal-spread, often with a discrete spinal cord nodule and oligodendroglioma-like histologic features. Patients were identified through a pathology database search of all cases with disseminated low-grade neoplasms with an oligodendroglioma-like component. De-identified clinical information was collected by chart review and all imaging was reviewed. We retrieved the results of targeted genomic analyses for alterations in BRAF. Ten patients (aged 2-14 years) were identified from the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Hospital and the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne pathology databases. Nine patients received chemotherapy. Eight patients are alive, although three have had episodes of progressive disease. We identified genomic alterations affecting the MAPK pathway in six patients. One patient had a germline RAF1 mutation and a clinical diagnosis of cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome. BRAF duplications were identified in four and BRAF V600E mutation was identified in one. These data support the presence of targetable genomic alterations in this disease.
BACKGROUND: Optic pathway gliomas (OPGs) are commonly noted in pediatric oncology services. Radiotherapy is effective at controlling tumors, but has many undesirable late effects, especially in patients with neurofibromatosis. Chemotherapy is commonly used to preserve vision and delay or eliminate the need for radiotherapy. Despite visual threat being a common reason to initiate chemotherapy in patients with OPG, reports of visual outcome after chemotherapy are not common and reports of long-term visual outcome are even scarcer. METHODS: In a single institution, all patients with OPG who had received chemotherapy or radiotherapy between 1996 and 2013 were identified from hospital databases. Visual, treatment, and radiological data were recorded. Categorized visual acuity was the primary outcome measure. RESULTS: Of 43 patients identified, visual data were available for 42 patients. Approximately 14% of patients experienced an improvement in visual acuity during therapy, 9% of patients experienced a deterioration, and the remainder were stable. At a mean follow-up of 78 months, 26% of patients were legally blind. Children aged <2 years and patients with a chiasmatic/hypothalamic tumor site were overrepresented in this category. An intraconal location was predictive of poor visual outcome for that eye but was unilateral with normal vision in the contralateral eye. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for long-term visual deterioration are young age, chiasmatic/hypothalamic tumor site, and intraconal tumor site for the involved eye. The most common visual outcome for children with OPG after treatment with chemotherapy is stability. This stability is maintained over the long term for >90% of children without these risk factors. Cancer 2015;121:4190-6.
Diffuse IDH-mutant astrocytoma mostly occurs in adults and carries a favorable prognosis compared to IDH-wildtype malignant gliomas. Acquired mismatch repair deficiency is known to occur in recurrent IDH-mutant gliomas as resistance mechanism towards alkylating chemotherapy. In this multi-institutional study, we report a novel epigenetic group of 32 IDH-mutant gliomas with proven or suspected hereditary mismatch repair deficiency. None of the tumors exhibited a combined 1p/19q deletion. These primary mismatch repair-deficient IDH-mutant astrocytomas (PMMRDIA) were histologically high-grade and were mainly found in children, adolescents and young adults (median age 14 years). Mismatch repair deficiency syndromes (Lynch or Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency Syndrom (CMMRD)) were clinically diagnosed and/or germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes (MLH1, MSH6, MSH2) were found in all cases, except one case with a family and personal history of colon cancer and another case with MSH6-deficiency available only as recurrent tumor. Loss of at least one of the mismatch repair proteins was detected via immunohistochemistry in all, but one case analyzed. Tumors displayed a hypermutant genotype and microsatellite instability was present in more than half of the sequenced cases. Integrated somatic mutational and chromosomal copy number analyses showed frequent inactivation of TP53, RB1 and activation of RTK/PI3K/AKT pathways. In contrast to the majority of IDH-mutant gliomas, more than 60% of the samples in our cohort presented with an unmethylated MGMT promoter. While the rate of immuno-histochemical ATRX loss was reduced, variants of unknown significance were more frequently detected possibly indicating a higher frequency of ATRX inactivation by protein malfunction. Compared to reference cohorts of other IDH-mutant gliomas, primary mismatch repair-deficient IDH-mutant astrocytomas have by far the worst clinical outcome with a median survival of only 15 months irrespective of histological or molecular features. The findings reveal a so far unknown entity of IDH-mutant astrocytoma with high prognostic relevance. Diagnosis can be established by aligning with the characteristic DNA methylation profile, by DNA-sequencing-based proof of mismatch repair deficiency or immunohistochemically demonstrating loss-of-mismatch repair proteins.
Hypersensitivity reactions to carboplatin are more common in this cohort than previously reported and rates are protocol-dependent. Desensitization showed limited effectiveness in this cohort.
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