Ewing sarcoma is a small round blue cell malignancy arising from bone or soft tissue and most commonly affects adolescents and young adults. Metastatic and relapsed Ewing sarcoma have poor outcomes and recurrences remain common. Owing to the poor outcomes associated with advanced disease and the need for a clear research strategy, the Children’s Oncology Group Bone Tumor Committee formed the New Agents for Ewing Sarcoma Task Force to bring together experts in the field to evaluate and prioritize new agents for incorporation into clinical trials. This group’s mission was to evaluate scientific and clinical challenges in moving new agents forward and to recommend agents and trial designs to the Bone Tumor Committee. The task force generated a framework for vetting prospective agents that included critical evaluation of each drug by using both clinical and non-clinical parameters. Representative appraisal of agents of highest priority, including eribulin, dinutuximab, cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors, anti-angiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, is described. The task force continues to analyze new compounds by using the paradigm established.

Background Castleman disease (CD) is an uncommon lymphoproliferative disorder that is rare in pediatric populations; the literature describing this population is sparse. We sought to describe pediatric CD, including unicentric CD (UCD) and human herpes virus‐8 (HHV8)‐negative multicentric CD (MCD), in a multi‐institutional cohort. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 24 patients, aged 0 to 26 years at diagnosis, who were diagnosed with CD between January 1, 2005, and May 16, 2017, at two tertiary children's hospitals. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Results Most patients (75%, 18/24) presented with UCD. All patients with MCD were HHV8‐negative. The most common histopathologic variant was hyaline vascular (75%, 18/24). Plasma cell variant occurred in 33% (2/6 [95% confidence intervals (CI), 4–78%]) of patients with HHV8‐negative MCD and 17% (3/18 [95% CI, 4–41%]) of patients with UCD. Systemic symptoms were present in 4 of 6 of patients with HHV8‐negative MCD and 8 of 18 of patients with UCD. Anemia and laboratory inflammation occurred in both UCD and MCD patients, with nonsignificantly higher rates of anemia and elevated C‐reactive protein in MCD patients. All but two UCD patients underwent gross total resection as definitive therapy. Among HHV8‐negative MCD patients, a combination of resection, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy was used. No UCD patients and three of six HHV8‐negative MCD patients experienced disease progression/relapse prior to lasting remission. There were no deaths. Conclusion Pediatric patients with CD most commonly have unicentric, hyaline vascular variant disease. Pediatric patients with both UCD and MCD commonly have systemic inflammation and, despite risk of progression/relapse in MCD patients, ultimately have excellent survival.

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