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Pioneering paediatric oncologist receives top cancer research award

Associate Professor Rishi Kotecha, Co-Head of Leukaemia Translational Research at The Kids Research Institute Australia Cancer Centre and Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Perth Children's Hospital, has been named Cancer Council WA’s 2024 Cancer Researcher of the Year.

A Systematic Review on the Role of Postoperative Radiotherapy in Pelvic Ewing Sarcoma

Ewing Sarcoma of the pelvis has poorer outcomes than other anatomical sites, with complex anatomy often precluding resection with wide margins. The role of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) in improving outcomes remains undefined. A systematic review using Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases (1972-April 2024) evaluated postoperative RT's impact on local recurrence, event-free survival and overall survival. Twenty-nine retrospective studies (21 to 296 patients) met inclusion criteria, with 28 rated good quality.

Antigen reactivity defines tissue-resident memory and exhausted T cells in tumors

CD8+ T cells are an important weapon in the therapeutic armamentarium against cancer. While CD8+CD103+ T cells with a tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cell phenotype are associated with favorable prognoses, the tumor microenvironment also contains dysfunctional exhausted T (TEX) cells that exhibit a variety of TRM-like features.

Advancing CNS tumor diagnostics with expanded DNA methylation-based classification

DNA methylation-based classification is now central to contemporary neuro-oncology, as highlighted by the World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors. This expansion is a result of newly identified tumor types discovered through our large online repository and global collaborations, underscoring CNS tumor heterogeneity.

Beyond bone: the emerging role of osteoclasts in immune regulation, leukemia development and following myeloablative therapy

Osteoclasts are important regulators of bone remodeling, with an established role in maintaining skeletal homeostasis. The emergence of osteoimmunology has identified osteoclasts as key players in the immune system. In particular, osteoclasts can initiate bi-directional crosstalk mechanisms with hematopoietic stem cells and various immune cells, such as T cells, B cells and NK cells, to influence hematopoiesis and inflammatory response.

Comparative analysis of malignant pleural effusion and peripheral blood reveals unique T cell signatures associated with survival in mesothelioma patients

The success of cancer immunotherapies has highlighted the importance of monitoring the anti-tumour T cell response. Patients with mesothelioma frequently present with a malignant pleural effusion (MPE) that is commonly drained regularly to alleviate symptoms. As MPE contains tumour cells, T cells and cytokines, it provides a unique opportunity to sample immune events at the tumour site.

Flt3L-mediated tumor cDC1 expansion enhances immunotherapy by priming stem-like CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) evokes antitumor immunity through the reinvigoration of T cell responses. T cell differentiation status controls response, with less differentiated cells having an enhanced capacity to proliferate after ICB. Given that conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) maintain precursor exhausted T cells (TPEX), we hypothesized that expansion of cDC1s with Flt3L could enhance responses to ICB. 

Local therapy with combination TLR agonists stimulates systemic anti-tumor immunity and sensitizes tumors to immune checkpoint blockade

W. Joost Ben Lizeth Rachael Tao Omar Lesterhuis Wylie Orozco Morales Zemek Wang Elaskalani BSc PhD BSc, MSc, PhD BSc (Hons), PhD PhD BSc, MSc, PhD

Editorial: Bench to bedside: translating pre-clinical research into clinical trials for childhood brain tumors

Nick Raelene Gottardo Endersby MBChB FRACP PhD BSc (Hons) PhD Head of Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology and Haematology, Perth Children’s Hospital;

Disruption of cotranscriptional splicing suggests that RBM39 is a therapeutic target in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

There are few options for patients with relapse/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, thus this is a major area of unmet medical need. Here, we reveal that inclusion of a poison exon in RBM39, which could be induced both by CDK9 or CDK9 independent CMGC (cyclin-dependent kinases, mitogen-activated protein kinases, glycogen synthase kinases, CDC-like kinases) kinase inhibition, is recognized by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway for degradation.