Advances in Pediatric Cancer Therapy

Dear Colleagues,

Since the introduction of chemotherapy, much progress has been made and a dramatic improvement has been seen in the last 50 years, with an actual cure rate of childhood cancer of 80% compared to < 25% in the pre-chemotherapy era.

Progress in pediatric hematology and oncology is mostly correlated to the identification of clinical and biologic prognostic factors, leading to risk-adapted therapeutic approaches with treatment intensity modulated to the molecular characteristics at diagnosis as well as to the response in the course of treatment. The risk of late effects associated with more intensive treatment (including high-dose chemotherapy and radiotherapy) are widely recognized nowadays. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches combining less intensive chemotherapy and innovative treatments are under investigation with the aim to increase overall survival and minimize late mortality and side effects, including cardiac deaths, infertility and second cancers. Advances in the understanding of the genetics of childhood cancer have allowed the identification of molecular targets that can potentially be exploited for therapeutic benefits. A wide variety of novel agents that target specific genetic lesions (i.e., bevacizumab, bortezomib, vorinostat, sorafenib and mTOR inhibitors) are under evaluation in subgroups of relapsed/refractory patients in both prospective clinical trials and retrospective series. Other therapeutic approaches characterized by immunotherapeutic strategies, such as the use of monoclonal antibodies, bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) and the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, are improving remission rates in refractory/relapsed disease, principally in the field of hematologic malignancies, and are under evaluation in first-line settings.

Dr. Luciana Vinti
Dr. Maria Antonietta De Ioris
Guest Editors

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• pediatric
• cancer
• immunotherapy
• novel agents
• target therapy
• pediatric hematologic malignancy
• pediatric oncology
• hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• solid tumor
• acute leukemia
• lymphoma