In 2011 there were over 1300 new articles published on neuroblastoma in the medical literature.
Join Dr Tim Cripe and his co-host Dr Lars Wagner in a fast-paced, in-depth, and comprehensive survey of 18 of the most important papers on neuroblastoma published in 2011. Dr Cripe and Dr Wagner explore and discuss the compelling evidence reported on a variety of topics, including epidemiology, risk stratification, clinical trials, ALK mutation and expression, new targets, and genetics.
All of the papers discussed are listed HERE with links to PubMed.
Join Dr Tim Cripe and his co-host Dr Lionel Chow for a fast-paced, in-depth, and comprehensive survey of 15 important recent papers on pediatric brain tumor research, addressing medulloblastoma, ependymomas, and gliomas. Dr Cripe and Dr Chow explore and discuss the compelling evidence reported on a variety of topics, including viral causes and therapeutic implications, biomarkers, genomics, proteomics, targets, classification, risk stratification, treatment side-effects, proton-beam radiation therapy, and results of recent clinical trials.
This robust review of current research includes all of the following papers [click link], listed by timed location in the podcast.
Please send all comments and questions to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org
Dr Tim Cripe and co-hosts Dr Maureen O’Brien and Dr Raj Nagarajan interview a pediatric hematology/oncology legend, Dr. Beatrice Lampkin, who served as Division Director of Cincinnati Children’s Division of Hematology/Oncology in the 1970’s. This enlightening and inspiring discussion explores her career and her early contributions to leukemia therapy and the challenges she faced as an early leader in the field as a female. She describes her experience with polio, early paralysis from the neck down, crutches for mobility, and later, her confinement to a wheelchair. Revealing another era in communications with parents and patients in the 1960s and 1970s, she explains how parents were advised to used the term “anemia” to describe their child’s condition rather than “leukemia” to to explain why the child would require periodic blood transfusions, and to prevent shunning by friends and family. Dr Lampkin also describes her joy at following the earliest survivors of pediatric cancer she treated who are now in their 40s and 50s.
As if all that isn’t inspiring enough, she describes her busy retirement in which she continues to teach the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital fellows how to examine blood and bone marrow smears under the microscope and her work in the founding of the GLAD House (http://www.gladhouse.org/), a sanctuary to help drug-addicted youth get off the streets.
Please send all comments and questions to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org.
Today’s episode features an impressive lineup for a hot topic. Host Dr Tim Cripe warns: “If your blood isn’t boiling by the end, you weren’t listening.” Hear Tim and co-host Dr Lionel Chow discuss pediatric cancer research funding with guests Dr C. Patrick (Pat) Reynolds, Dr E. Anders (Andy) Kolb, and parent Joe McDonough.
Dr Pat Reynolds puts government spending on the number one disease killer of children in the US in perspective, comparing the tiny $200M spent on pediatric cancer research to the foreign aid budget of $22B (less than 1%). For example, $1.6B goes to Egypt alone. The COG budget is a mere $46M. The DOD budget is $700B. See his slides here. Dr Lionel Chow mentions an enlightening fact – private donations to St Jude exceed $600M per year, on top of the givers’ paying taxes. This is 3 times the entire NCI budget for pediatric cancer research for all institutions in the US.
Spending per Person Years Life Lost is compared for childhood cancers and adult cancers, see graph here.
Dr C Patrick Reynolds is Director, Cancer Center and Professor of Cell Biology & Biochemistry, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock TX. Dr E Anders Kolb is the Director of Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, and Head of the Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory at Nemours Biomedical Research, Wilmington, DE. Joe McDonough is father to Andrew, and founder of The Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation, raising money for families and research.
Several just-published papers in the literature relate to recent podcast episodes, and host Dr Tim Cripe and co-host Dr Lionel Chow review these interesting developments.
0:55 Hedgehog Signaling: Recent papers discussing this pathway in neuroblastoma and rhabdomyosarcoma are discussed, with implications for treatment in these tumor types with itraconozole.
6:40 Cell phone and brain tumor risk: The controversy concerning criticism by the Environmental Health Trust of a study showing that cell phone use does not increase risk of brain tumors in children is explored.
Accelerated approval of cancer drugs by the FDA and implications for pediatric cancers.
15:30 Brentuximab for two types of lymphoma
21:20 Vemurafenib for melanoma
28:30 Crizotinib for non-small cell lung cancer (and potential use in neuroblastoma)
Host Dr Tim Cripe and co-host Dr Lionel Chow welcome special guest Dr Jeff Toretsky on TWiPO to discuss his clinical and research interest in Ewing’s sarcoma. Dr Toretsky explains the challenges of developing a clinical grade drug from a small molecule for a specific target such as EWS-FLI1. The small market for a disease like Ewing’s creates formidable hurdles for researchers, yet Dr Toretsky is driven on by the question “If I don’t do this, who will?” (17:54 mins)
Dr Jeff Toretsky is Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics at Georgetown University. He graduated with BS in Biochemistry from University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, and recieved his MD from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. He completed fellowship training at the NCI Pediatric Branch.
Host Dr Tim Cripe and co-hosts Dr Lars Wagner and Dr Lionel Chow welcome guest Dr Giselle Sholler on this episode of TWiPO. Dr Sholler gives the background to her current research interest in neuroblastoma, and describes her nifurtimox trials and how she formed the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC). The physicians also discuss the specifics of the personalized medicine feasibility trial now open for neuroblastoma.
Dr. Sholler is a Pediatric Oncologist with Spectrum Health Medical Group, Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, and directs the Pediatric Oncology Therapeutic Discovery Clinic. She is also Co-Director of the VARI/TGen Pediatric Oncology Research Program, and Associate Professor of the Neuroblastoma Translational Research Laboratory at Van Andel Research Institute. She has a faculty appointment within Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, and continues as adjunct faculty at University of Vermont. Dr Sholler is also a Guest Researcher in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the NCI.
References:
J Clin Oncol. 2010 Nov 20;28(33):4877-83. Epub 2010 Oct 4. Pilot study using molecular profiling of patients’ tumors to find potential targets and select treatments for their refractory cancers.
Science 16 Sept 2011: Vol. 333 no. 6049 pp. 1569-1571. Pushing the Envelope in Neuroblastoma Therapy
Mol Cancer Ther August 2011 10; 1311. A Pilot Clinical Study of Treatment Guided by Personalized Tumorgrafts in Patients with Advanced Cancer
Dr Tim Cripe and co-hosts Dr Lionel Chow and Dr Lars Wagner welcome special guest Dr Stephen Lessnick for an in-depth discussion on the progress to date in understanding the genetics of Ewing’s sarcoma. The challenges of interpreting the gene expression data as well as the ethics of collecting tumor specimens for research purposes are also explored.
Dr. Stephen Lessnick is a Professor of Pediatrics and Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah, where he also serves as an Attending Physician in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, UT. He received his PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA in 1994, and his MD from UCLA in 1996, followed by a residency at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and a fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital. Currently, Dr. Lessnick is the Director of the Center for Children’s Cancer Research at Huntsman Cancer Institute, a Jon and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professor in Cancer Research at the University of Utah, and is the Vice Chair for Biology of the Bone Tumor Committee in the Children’s Oncology Group.
Please send questions or comments to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org
Join host Dr Tim Cripe with his co-hosts Drs Jim Geller, Lionel Chow, and Lars Wagner in a robust discussion with special guest Dr Kathryn Wikenheiser-Brokamp on the implications of DICER1, rare tumor registries, and difficult issues surrounding genetic counseling.
Kathryn A. Wikenheiser-Brokamp, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Pathology and Pulmonary Biology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Her research is focused on pediatric and adult lung diseases, including cancer. She seeks to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying Rb/p16, p53, and Dicer1 pathway function in lung development and the pathogenesis of lung disease. Dr Wikenheiser-Brokamp holds a PhD in Developmental Biology, Developmental Biology and an MD from University of Cincinnati.
In this enlightening interview with Dr Kate Matthay, a reknown leader in the neuroblastoma research community, host Dr Tim Cripe draws out the inspiration for her early interest in medicine and why her career grew with a focus on neuroblastoma. Dr Matthay explains the history and challenges of clinical research for neuroblastoma:
10:00 challenges in planning and conducting the CCG-3891 double randomized trial questioning the need for transplant and cis-retinoic acid
15:00 discussion of the COG-A3973 trial questioning the need for purged stem cells
15:50 rationale for the COG-ANBL0532 single versus tandem transplant trial
16:13 discussion of the COG-ANBL0032 ch14.18 with cytokines trial
18:00 MIBG COG pilot trial
22:00 work with SIOP and NB protocol development for children in Morocco (N Africa)
Please send any questions or comments to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org
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