Background : To assess feasibility of sparing the neural stem cell compartment (NSC), hippocampus, and limbic circuit during partial brain radiotherapy (PBRT) for pediatric intracranial tumors. Methods : Treatment plans were generated for the following pediatric intracranial tumors: low and high grade gliomas, low grade brainstem glioma, optic nerve glioma, hypothalamic glioma, localized ependy...

While remarkable advances have been made in the treatment of pediatric leukemia over the past decades, new therapies are needed for children with advanced solid tumors and high-grade brain tumors who fail standard chemotherapy regimens. Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors acting through the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) pathway has shown efficacy in some chemotherapy-resistant adul...

The 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System (WHO 2016) represents a noteworthy divergence from prior classification schemas. This new classification introduced the concept of "integrated diagnoses" based on a marriage of both phenotypic (microscopic) and genotypic parameters, with the intended goals of improving diagnostic accuracy and patient manag...

Isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) and Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) mutant tumors may have increased levels of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), which leads to a tumoral pseudohypoxic profile. Increased HIF levels may promote tumor progression by the activation of numerous cellular processes including resistance to apoptosis, vascular remodeling and angiogenesis. A high frequency of IDH1 mutation...

Among various cancers, pediatric brain tumors represent the most common cancer type in children and the second most common cause of cancer related deaths. Anticancer drugs and therapies, such as doxorubicin (Dox), have severe side effects on patients during chemotherapy, especially for children as their bodies are still under development. These side effects are believed to be due to the lack of...

BACKGROUND Central nervous system (CNS) primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are malignant primary brain tumors that occur in young infants. Using current standard therapy, up to 80% of the children still dies from recurrent disease. Cellular immunotherapy might be key to improve overall survival. To achieve efficient killing of tumor cells, however, immunotherapy has to overcome cancer-ass...

Brain tumors are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms with different origins, pathobiologies, treatments and prognoses. The collective contributions from the fields of neuro-oncology, neurosurgery, radiation oncology, neurology, neuropathology, neuroradiology and molecular biology have all led to significant advances in the treatment of certain brain tumors. Ideas from these fields, under the coo...

Background: Understanding the differences in genetics of malignancies is crucial for therapeutic decisions. This systematic review was conducted to evaluate the current evidence on genetics of bone tumors in the context of pediatric cancer. Material and Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature published on genetics of pediatrics bone tumors, using PubMed, Google scholar,...

In the wake of recent progress in understanding the genetic pathways involved in the development of brain tumors, a major goal is to correlate molecular data with clinical outcome, survival, and response to treatment modalities. This is of particular importance among the pediatric population. Reliable prognostic factors could potentially permit a tailoring of therapy in that only patients with ...