What's New In Paediatric Oncology

What's New In Paediatric Oncology

HMP - S7 Study

A brand-new anti-leukemic peptide called HMP-S7 was found in human milk. Chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for juvenile acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Chemotherapy-related side effects and toxicity continue to cause morbidity and mortality in children, despite the fact that cure rates are currently at or above 90%.

There is ongoing research into more advanced treatments that are less hazardous and more focused on tumor cells.  One treatment strategy relies on identifying or creating certain anticancer peptides, or ACPs.

How ACPS Are Effective Against Cancer Cells?          

When it comes to leukemias, tumor cells possess the following traits. Their plasma membrane is covered in a high concentration of anionic molecules; they have a large membrane surface area, which means that there is comparatively little cholesterol in the membrane; and they are shown to be highly responsive to cationic polypeptides.

ACPs

• Cationic.
• Strongly charged.
• Alpha-helical structure.
• Increased tendency to enter cells.
• ACPs act by plasma membrane disruption in tumor cells.

Breast Milk As A Source Of ACPS

It has previously been demonstrated that human milk contains a variety of immunomodulatory and antibacterial peptides.

Compared to shorter or no nursing, breastfeeding for six months or more was linked to a 19% decreased incidence of all children leukemia.

What Did the Study Support?

The alpha helix structure is shared by the majority of known ACPs. Eight human milk peptides, including HMP-S1, HMP-S2, HMP-S3, HMP-S4, HMP-S5, HMP-S7, HMP-S8, and HMP-S9, were examined.  A positive ACP control was bovine milk peptide BMP-S6.

Compared to other human milk-derived peptides, HMP-S7, the most strongly charged cationic peptide (net charge: +3) with an alpha-helical structure, exhibited more inhibitory effect towards four leukemic-cell lines in vitro and patient-derived leukemic cells ex vivo.

BMP-S6 is less effective than HMP-S7 in destroying leukemic cells.  Normal non-leukemic cells experience less harm.

Conclusion

HMP-S7 did not effect solid cancers or normal representative cells, however it did exhibit dose-dependent cytotoxic action against four different leukemic cell lines. By breaking through the plasma membrane, entering the cytoplasm, and releasing lactate dehydrogenase, HMP-S7 acts in a membranolytic way to cause leukemic cell death.

HMP-S7 demonstrated antileukemic actions ex vivo against leukemic cells obtained from patients.To sum up, HMP-S7 is a promising selective anti-leukemic peptide that needs more preclinical and clinical research to be validated.

Urinary N1, N12 - Diacetylspermine As A Biomarker For Paediatric Cancer: A Case-control Study

Relevant Points

 Research on biomarkers for pediatric cancer is still in its infancy.  Alkyl amines containing several amino groups are known as polyamines, and they include putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine, and spermine. Tissues that are growing quickly typically have active systems for manufacturing polyamines and are rich in polyamines. When such tissues are present in the body, the excretion of polyamines and their metabolites in the urine may rise.

N1, N12-diacetyl spermine (DiAcSpm), which can be detected using an ELISA kit, is a trace element in human urine that makes up less than 0.5% of all polyamine species in normal human urine.  N1, N12-diacetyl spermine (DiAcSpm) has been suggested as a biomarker for hepatocellular, colorectal, and breast cancer in adults.

Yokota et al. have published a pediatric study on N1 and N12-diacetyl spermine (DiAcSpm) urine levels in pediatric malignancies. In all, 405 controls and 32 cancer patients were included in the study. Thirteen of the thirty-two patients had leukemia, nine had malignant lymphoma, and ten had neuroblastoma. In children, the sensitivity of urinary DiAcSpm levels for malignant lymphomas was 77.8%.

Conclusion

A helpful tumor marker for malignant lymphoma screening and follow-up is the urine DiAcSpm value.

Also Read: High-Yield NEET SS Pediatric Oncology Questions

Neuropilin-1: A Key Protein To Consider In The Progression Of Paediatric Brain Tumors

Neutrophilins, transmembrane glycoproteins of the NRP-1 and NRP-2 classes, are involved in neuronal development and CVS.  NRP-1 is a co-receptor that interacts with the cytoplasmic protein synectin in addition to binding a variety of ligands, including VEGF and SEMA 3, to strengthen their signaling pathways.  NRP1 expression is linked to a bad outcome in a number of malignancies, including pediatric brain cancer.(High grade glioma >> Medulloblastoma).  NRP signaling encourages cancer stem cells (CSCs) to survive and proliferate. - CD15+

Study Regarding Prognostic marker in Wilms tumor   

 Patients with Wilms tumors have a poor prognosis when their cholesterol production is elevated.

India's First Proton Beam Therapy Pediatric Patient 

It was the first instance of a craniopharyngioma that was satisfactorily treated.

Childhood Cancer in INDIA

 In India, leukemia is responsible for 40–50% of childhood cancer cases; acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most frequent kind.  Studies show that leukemia typically manifests at a median age of 6 to 10 years, which is later than in HICs.

The preponderance of mixed cellularity histology and younger age of presentation are characteristics of Hodgkin lymphoma, which may be related to asymptomatic Epstein-Barr virus infection in childhood.

In institutional reviews, abdominal symptoms are the most often reported presenting feature. These are followed by constitutional symptoms and lymphadenopathy, and a sizable percentage of cases appear in an advanced stage.

 The two most common subtypes are still Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) (40–60%) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (30–40%), which are followed by diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). Eight to twelve percent of juvenile cancer cases are caused by CNS tumors. (low in comparison to the population of the West).

Hope you found this blog helpful for your NEET SS Pediatrics Oncology preparation. For more informative and interesting posts like these, keep reading PrepLadder’s blogs.