The article explores how homelessness may impact on the educational participation of children and young people in families living in emergency accommodation in Dublin. Many difficulties arise in terms of maintaining consistent schooling for children when they are part of a homeless family, including problems getting to and from school if living at a distance from their original schools, frequent changes in school and inadequate facilities and overcrowding in their temporary accommodation. Despite the many difficulties involved in maintaining children's regular school attendance, it is evident that school may represent the only stability for a child in an otherwise insecure and changing routine. Copyright © 2006 Children's Research Centre.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a high-grade neuroendocrine malignancy with an aggressive behavior and dismal prognosis. 5-year overall survival remains a disappointing 7%. Genomically, SCLCs are homogeneous compared to non-small cell lung cancers and are characterized almost always by functional inactivation of RB1 and TP53 with no actionable mutations. Additionally, SCLCs histologically appear uniform. Thus, SCLCs are currently managed as a single disease with platinum-based chemotherapy remaining the cornerstone of treatment. Recent studies have identified expression of dominant transcriptional signatures which may permit classification of SCLCs into four biologically distinct subtypes, namely, SCLC-A, SCLC-N, SCLC-P, and SCLC-I. These groups are readily detectable by immunohistochemistry and also have potential predictive utility for emerging therapies, including PARPi, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and DLL3 targeted therapies. In contrast with their histology, studies have identified that SCLCs display both inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity. Identification of subpopulations of cells with high expression of PLCG2 has been linked with risk of metastasis. SCLCs also display subtype switching under therapy pressure which may contribute furthermore to metastatic ability and chemoresistance. In this review, we summarize the recent developments in the understanding of the biology of SCLCs, and discuss the potential diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment opportunities the four proposed subtypes may present for the future. We also discuss the emerging evidence of tumor heterogeneity and plasticity in SCLCs which have been implicated in metastasis and acquired therapeutic resistance seen in these aggressive tumors.

Activating mutations in KRAS are highly prevalent in solid tumours and are frequently found in 35% of lung, 45% of colorectal, and up to 90% of pancreatic cancers. Mutated KRAS is a prognostic factor for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in NSCLC and is associated with a more aggressive clinical phenotype, highlighting the need for KRAS-targeted therapy. Once considered undruggable due to its smooth shallow surface, a breakthrough showed that the activated G12C-mutated KRAS isozyme can be directly inhibited via a newly identified switch II pocket. This discovery led to the development of a new class of selective small-molecule inhibitors against the KRAS G12C isoform. Sotorasib and adagrasib are approved in locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC patients who have received at least one prior systemic therapy. Currently, there are at least twelve KRAS G12C inhibitors being tested in clinical trials, either as a single agent or in combination. In this study, KRAS mutation prevalence, subtypes, rates of occurrence in treatment-resistant invasive mucinous adenocarcinomas (IMAs), and novel drug delivery options are reviewed. Additionally, the current status of KRAS inhibitors, multiple resistance mechanisms that limit efficacy, and their use in combination treatment strategies and novel multitargeted approaches in NSCLC are discussed.

Peroxisomes are organelles that play essential roles in many metabolic processes, but also play roles in innate immunity, signal transduction, aging and cancer. One of the main functions of peroxisomes is the processing of very-long chain fatty acids into metabolites that can be directed to the mitochondria. One key family of enzymes in this process are the peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidases (ACOX1, ACOX2 and ACOX3), the expression of which has been shown to be dysregulated in some cancers. Very little is however known about the expression of this family of oxidases in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ACOX2 has however been suggested to be elevated at the mRNA level in over 10% of NSCLC, and in the present study using both standard and bioinformatics approaches we show that expression of ACOX2 is significantly altered in NSCLC. ACOX2 mRNA expression is linked to a number of mutated genes, and associations between ACOX2 expression and tumour mutational burden and immune cell infiltration were explored. Links between ACOX2 expression and candidate therapies for oncogenic driver mutations such as KRAS were also identified. Furthermore, levels of acyl-CoA oxidases and other associated peroxisomal genes were explored to identify further links between the peroxisomal pathway and NSCLC. The results of this biomarker driven study suggest that ACOX2 may have potential clinical utility in the diagnosis, prognosis and stratification of patients into various therapeutically targetable options.