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Assorted News from the Last Week: CAC2 Individual Member Robert Dilley blogging about why sustained research funding is essential to progress. AACR issues calls to action to advocacy colleagues and supporters of NIH funding. NCI Annual Report to the Nation:  "Cancer death rates in children declined steadily over the study period; those for adolescents and young adults also declined until recently, when the decline slowed and stabilized." A new study suggests that early-life exposure to two widespread environmental pollutants -- small particle air pollution and outdoor artificial light at night -- could increase the risk of pediatric thyroid cancer. CT [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: A pan-Canadian team has developed a new way to quickly find personalized treatments for young cancer patients, by growing their tumors in chicken eggs and analyzing their proteins. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for NEO100 (perillyl alcohol) in the treatment of pediatric-type diffuse high-grade gliomas. Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) (aged 13-39 years) represent a growing segment of the cancer population who face distinct challenges in receiving care, leading to adverse treatment experiences and stagnant survival outcomes. Preventable pediatric cancer mortality surges in areas of [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: A man who battled childhood cancer has received the first known transplant of sperm-producing stem cells, in a study aimed at restoring the fertility of cancer's youngest survivors. Projections suggest that 45.6% of childhood cancer survivors would die before reaching 65 years of age, compared to 15.0% of the general population. Children constitute 7.2% of annual cancer cases in Nigeria. U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) introduced the Give Kids a Chance Act, which would give children with cancer access to combination therapy trials. The bill will also incentivize pharmaceutical companies [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: Thanks to all for a fantastic Action Day on February 28.  348 advocates from 40 states participated and shared their stories in 222 meetings, asking for congressional support for important legislation and funding for childhood cancer. Celebrating collaborative achievement: CAC2 Member Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation and Supporting Member The Brain Bodega are launching a pilot program that offers personalized academic support for childhood/teen cancer fighters, survivors, and siblings. The Children’s Oncology Group Long-Term Follow-Up Guidelines for Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancers: A Review Study shows possible links between PFAS [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) is piloting data federation with Kids First Data Resource Center, the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons, St. Jude Cloud, and the Treehouse Childhood Cancer Data Initiative. These resources provide information about genomic, clinical, imaging, and biospecimen data in these data sets. This list will expand as more organizations implement CCDI’s data federation API. How genetics shape blood proteins during development from childhood to adolescence. Penn State's THON sets record, raises over $17 million for pediatric cancer research. Allogeneic approach unlocks CAR T cell benefits in solid tumors. Using the [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: Leo Messi, Alejandra & Richard Gere, Princess Dina supporting OncoThon for childhood cancer research joined the best and the brightest scientists, advocates, and allies to support Oncothon 2025. The immunotherapy drug blinatumomab (Blincyto) is already a standard treatment for some people with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Following positive results from a large clinical trial, it’s now expected to become part of the standard initial treatment for many children with the disease. Factors driving stark inequalities for survival rates for children with cancer in low and middle-income countries and how to narrow that survival gap. [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: CAC2 Member Annette Logan-Parker (Cure 4 the Kids Foundation) explains why she joined the CAC2 Innovation Council. A research paper by Dr. Anahita Fathi Kazerooni, Dr. Adam Kraya, and other colleagues, published in the prestigious Nature Communications Journal, sheds new light on the complexities of pediatric low-grade gliomas. People with cancer are living longer than everopens in a new tab or window, but many of them have to deal with long-lasting effects of the disease and treatment. Pediatric tumors are often driven by one or two spontaneous mutations, whereas adult tumors can have hundreds [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: A recent study indicates that children and young adults with cancer face an elevated risk of dying if they live in previously redlined neighborhoods—residential areas marked in the 1920s–1930s by lenders as undesirable for mortgage loans due to their racial demographics. International convention: Defeating childhood and adolescent cancer and reducing global disparities. Landscape of global pediatric oncology publications: A cross-sectional analysis. New research explains why immunotherapy is less effective in children with cancer. Epigenetic states during development establish cancer risk before birth. Teens with cancer report worse pain, mental health a year after advance [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: A large number of CAC2 members contributed to the recently published conclusions from the 2024 paediatric strategy forum for medicinal product development in diffuse midline gliomas: to achieve progress: i) drug discovery; ii) new multi-modality, efficient, collaborative, pre-clinical approaches, possibly including artificial intelligence and, iii) efficient clinical trial designs fit for regulatory purposes are required. The FDA approved treosulfan (Grafapex) with fludarabine as a preparative regimen for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients ages 1 year and older with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Researchers have determined how children's immune [...] Read more