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WA children with most aggressive cancers to benefit from Australian-first personalised medicine clinical trialPersonalised medicine for childhood cancers in West Australia is a step closer thanks to the Zero Childhood Cancer program’s state clinical trial launched today
News & Events
World-first research to transform outcomes for First Nations children with cancerA first of its kind research program at The Kids Research Institute Australia aims to develop new strategies to better treat First Nations children with cancer.
News & Events
Research sheds new light on childhood Leukaemia treatmentA The Kids study examining drug resistance in leukaemia patients has shed new light on why some treatments may be more effective than others.
News & Events
New childhood brain tumour drugs to be testedIt is the kids he treats in his role as a paediatric oncologist that motivate Dr Nick Gottardo in his work as a The Kids Research Institute Australia cancer researcher.
Research
Precision-guided treatment in high-risk pediatric cancersRecent research showed that precision medicine can identify new treatment strategies for patients with childhood cancers. However, it is unclear which patients will benefit most from precision-guided treatment.
Research
Nonchromosomal birth defects and risk of childhood acute leukemia: An assessment in 15 000 leukemia cases and 46 000 controls from the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International ConsortiumAlthough recent studies have demonstrated associations between nonchromosomal birth defects and several pediatric cancers, less is known about their role on childhood leukemia susceptibility. Using data from the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium, we evaluated associations between nonchromosomal birth defects and childhood leukemia.
Research
A surgically optimized intraoperative poly(I:C)-releasing hydrogel prevents cancer recurrenceRecurrences frequently occur following surgical removal of primary tumors. In many cancers, adjuvant therapies have limited efficacy. Surgery provides access to the tumor microenvironment, creating an opportunity for local therapy, in particular immunotherapy, which can induce local and systemic anti-cancer effects.
Research
A tipping point in cancer-immune dynamics leads to divergent immunotherapy responses and hampers biomarker discoveryPredicting treatment response or survival of cancer patients remains challenging in immuno-oncology. Efforts to overcome these challenges focus, among others, on the discovery of new biomarkers. Despite advances in cellular and molecular approaches, only a limited number of candidate biomarkers eventually enter clinical practice.
Research
Characteristics of TCR Repertoire Associated With Successful Immune Checkpoint Therapy ResponsesImmunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment. In particular, immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) leads to durable responses in some patients with some cancers. However, the majority of treated patients do not respond. Understanding immune mechanisms that underlie responsiveness to ICT will help identify predictive biomarkers of response and develop treatments to convert non-responding patients to responding ones. ICT primarily acts at the level of adaptive immunity. The specificity of adaptive immune cells, such as T and B cells, is determined by antigen-specific receptors.
Research
Outcomes for Australian children with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukaemia treated with blinatumomabWe report on the Australian experience of blinatumomab for treatment of 24 children with relapsed/refractory precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) and high-risk genetics, resulting in a minimal residual disease (MRD) response rate of 58%, 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) of 39% and 2-year overall survival of 63%. In total, 83% (n = 20/24) proceeded to haematopoietic stem cell transplant, directly after blinatumomab (n = 12) or following additional salvage therapy (n = 8).