View clinical trials related to Cancer Childhood.
Filter by:Febrile aplasia is a common occurrence in children/adults treated with chemotherapy for malignant blood diseases or solid cancers. This acquired deficiency of immunity mainly causes susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections, pathogens normally recognized by specific receptors of innate immunity (Pattern Recognition Receptor, PRR). Thus, the febrile episodes in the context of post-chemotherapy neutropenia can be bacterial or fungal etiology, but can also frequently be related to viral infections, toxic phenomena or other etiologies. In the absence of a discriminating marker, treatment for all these children is based on early, broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy in hospital. Septic shock or even death by refractory septic shock remain, even if they are rare, real complications in pediatric oncology, requiring discriminatory markers for effective management, While trying to reduce the number and duration of hospitalizations for children at low risk for severe febrile aplasia. It is therefore necessary to identify other markers allowing the earliest possible classification of episodes of febrile aplasia. A previous study, conducted by our team, PTX3 and febrile aplasia, studied pentraxin 3 (PTX3), a soluble PRR of the pentraxin family that plays a key role in immune surveillance against pathogens. Preliminary results obtained from samples from a cohort of patients treated in adult hematology and pediatric onco-hematology support a prognostic character of PTX3 in the severity of aplasia, with higher elevations of serum protein during episodes of severe sepsis or septic shock (ongoing analyses and interpretations for the adult population). The available data to date on the pediatric cohort are insufficient to conclude on the value of using PTX3. The investigators therefore wish to create a new paediatric cohort, in order to evaluate the PTX3 levels for the paediatric population and also to perform the assay of a new marker, clusterin. Clusterin (CLU) is an extracellular chaperone protein of constitutive expression. The Innate Immunity team of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) "1307-Scientific Research National Center (CNRS) 6075" unit has shown that Clu binds to extracellular histones and inhibits their inflammatory, thrombotic and cytotoxic properties. The investigators also observed (i) that in adults without severe sepsis neutropenics, low serum levels of Clu at intake and lack of normalization of rates are associated with higher mortality and (ii) Clu levels are inversely correlated with circulating histone levels. All these data suggest that Clu would have a protective role for histone-induced lesions during sepsis independently of antibiotic treatment, opening an innovative therapeutic pathway in the management of severe sepsis. CluPPFeN is based on the hypothesis that, in a pediatric population with episodes of febrile aplasia, serum Clu and serum PTX3 levels would discriminate between febrile episodes caused by bacterial infection and other etiologies and, As a result, would reduce the consumption of antibiotics, which provide resistance, and the length of hospitalization.
Other than high-dose radiation and previous chemotherapy, few strong risk factors have been identified as causes of childhood cancer. Geneticists estimate that 5 to 10% of all cancers diagnosed during the paediatric period occur in children born with a genetic mutation, increasing their lifetime risk of neoplasia. Such genetic risk is higher in children with congenital anomalies and specific genetic syndromes. Some germline genetic alterations are well known (e.g. P53 protein (P53), Neurofibromatosis type 1(NF1)), however many children with none of these mutations have clinical presentations that strongly suggest the involvement of a genetic predisposition. Comprehensive genetic testing for all such patients is an important factor for improving disease surveillance. Such opportunities are now available thanks to whole exome sequencing (WES). In oncology, an important clinical application of WES will be to routinely identify mutations associated with inherited cancer predispositions and to guide cancer risk-management decisions. Our project is a national translational multicenter genetics study aimed at identifying genes involved in paediatric cancer predisposition by WES in a very select population of children with both developmental delay and cancer. Our project relies on the TED register (Tumeur Et Développement), an initiative by the French organisation SFCE (Société Française de lutte contre les Cancers et les leucémies de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent) involving 30 child cancer units in France. This database includes the information of more than 500 paediatric cancer patients with congenital abnormalities. The investigators plan to sequence the germline and tumour exome of 100 patients with developmental delay in a trio-design consisting of 300 people and 100 tumours. The investigators believe that the ExoCaRe project will provide answers to the genetic origins of certain particular childhood cancers. The ExoCaRe project relies on a genetic study to identify genetic risk factors for rare forms of childhood cancer and aims to establish more personalised treatment. It is aimed at improving genetic counselling for families and will be fully integrated in the genetic counselling process. The information provided by our study will be used to improve the management approach to an initial cancer by clarifying the risks of other cancers in related families. The investigators hope to identify new germline genes predisposing to cancer that will be of interest in understanding tumour biology.