Prognostic factors affecting infantile medulloblastoma outcomes in the molecular era: a 12-year single-center experience from Egypt.

Aims: To assess the clinical, pathological and molecular characteristics (Sonic hedgehog and group 3/4 molecular subtypes expression) and treatment modalities for infantile medulloblastoma in correlation with outcomes. Materials & methods: A retrospective study of 86 medulloblastoma patients (≤3 years) was conducted. M0 patients <2.5 years received four cycles of chemotherapy followed by focal radiotherapy (FRT) and chemotherapy. Between 2007 and 2015, Metastatic patients <2.5 years received craniospinal irradiation (CSI) after the end of chemotherapy. After 2015, metastatic patients <2.5 years received CSI postinduction. Results: The hazard ratio for death was significantly higher in the FRT (HR = 2.8) group compared with the CSI group (hazard ratio = 1). Metastatic disease significantly affected the overall survival of the Sonic hedgehog group and the overall survival and event-free survival of group 3/4. Conclusion: Metastatic disease had a significant impact on outcomes. FRT is not effective in treating infantile medulloblastoma.

This study aimed to analyze the management of and prognostic factors affecting the outcomes of 86 young children (<3 years of age at presentation) diagnosed with medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor that is commonly seen in this age group. All children had surgical operations aiming at resecting their tumors, followed by chemotherapy and irradiation. Study results showed that disease disseminated into the nervous system was associated with poorer outcomes compared with localized disease. Administration of local irradiation to the primary tumor site in the brain only, without exposing the spinal cord to radiotherapy, was associated with a higher risk of death.

Correction to: Risk stratification of pediatric high-grade glioma: a newly proposed prognostic score.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained an error. The author apologizes for having provided an incorrect name: "Mohamed S. Zaghluol" should be "Mohamed S. Zaghloul". Given in this article is the correct author name.

Outcome of High-risk Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) in Egyptian Children, Does Intermediate-dose Methotrexate Improve the Outcome?

High-risk multisystem organ (RO+) Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has the least survival. We present the outcome of RO+ LCH in a pediatric single center. Fifty RO+ LCH patients, treated between 07/2007 and 07/2015, were retrospectively analyzed. Induction vinblastine (VBL) and prednisone (PRED) with intermediate-dose methotrexate (idMTX) was adopted until 2012 (n=20) wherein idMTX was omitted (n=30). The 3-year overall survival (OS) of MTX and non-MTX groups was 75% and 63%, respectively, P=0.537, while the event-free survival (EFS) was 36.9% and 13.2%, respectively, P=0.005. At week 12 of induction, "better status" was obtained in 80% of those receiving MTX, and 55% of those who were not. The statistically significant factors associated with both poor OS and EFS were trihemopoietic cytopenias, hepatic dysfunction, tri RO+ combination, and single induction. The factors associated with disease progression (DP) on induction were trihemopoietic cytopenias, hepatic dysfunction, and lack of idMTX, while those for disease reactivations (REA), the season of autumn/winter, lung disease, male sex, and idMTX were the associated factors. The 1-year OS was remarkably affected with the occurrence of DP versus REA versus none, wherein it was 47%, 93%, and 95%, respectively, P=0.001. In conclusion, idMTX is associated with better EFS. DP on induction remains of dismal prognosis in relation to disease REA afterwards. Risk stratification should highlight the role of trihemopoietic cytopenias, hepatic dysfunction, tri RO+, central nervous system risk site, and lung association.

Risk stratification of pediatric high-grade glioma: a newly proposed prognostic score.

OBJECTIVES: High-grade glioma (HGG) is a clinical challenge. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RTOG-RPA) for HGG remains the standard for assessing the prognosis of adult HGG. This study assesses the validity of the RTOG-RPA to be applied to pediatric HGG. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 59 pediatric HGG treated in the Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt (CCHE) between 2007 and 2016. Several factors were studied as predictors for the disease survival, including age, gender, increased intracranial hypertension, tumor characteristics and pathology, CSF seeding, performance status, post-surgical residual, and radiation dose. The statistically significant results were integrated into a Cox-regression model to develop a prognostic risk score. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier statistics identified 13 factors that impacted the overall survival. However, Cox model showed that the histological grade IV [HR 14.2, 95%CI; (3.5-57), P < 0.0001], thalamic infiltration [HR 8.7; 95%CI; (2.9-25.9), P < 0.0001], PS ≥ 60 [HR 0.317; 95%CI; (0.13-0.776); P = 0.012], and maximum tumor dimension > 3.3 cm [HR 10.2; 95%CI; (1.58-65.89); P = 0.015] were the independent variables that predicted the overall survival. A risk score was proposed based on the presence of one or more of these factors. The median OS for the low risk (score 0-1), the intermediate-low risk (score 2), the intermediate-high risk (score 3), and the high risk (score 4) were 40, 18.5, 9.5, and 2.5 months, respectively, (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The proposed model and risk score could stratify pediatric patients as the RTOG-RPA do for the adults.

Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor in a lower middle­income country: Challenges to cure.

Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a rare type of potentially fatal childhood brain tumor. The present study aimed to examine the overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) outcomes of pediatric patients with ATRT and to analyze the impact of different prognostic factors, including age, sex, tumor site and size, metastatic disease, the extent of resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, on survival. The present study included 47 patients with ATRT treated at the Children's Cancer Hospital of Egypt (Cairo, Egypt) between July 2007 and December 2017. These patients were treated according to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute protocol 02-294 for 51 weeks. Various prognostic factors, including age, sex, tumor size and initial metastatic status, exhibited no impact on the radiological response measured at 6 weeks and at the end of treatment. The primary tumor site significantly affected the response to treatment at 6 weeks (P=0.008). Toxicity-related mortality occurred in 29.8% of patients. The median duration of the treatment protocol was 66.9 weeks. The duration of treatment was in the present cohort was longer than the actual 51 weeks of the protocol due to prolonged supportive care of the included patients. Patients who encountered toxicity received reduced dose of chemotherapy in the subsequent cycles in the protocol. Age, initial metastatic status, tumor site and resection extent did not significantly affect the patient outcomes. Preoperative tumor size significantly affected the EFS (P=0.03) and OS (P=0.04). Radiotherapy administration significantly affected the OS (P<0.001) and EFS (P<0.001). The median EFS and OS of patients were 9.3 and 10.3 months, respectively. A total of 24 (51.1%) patients exhibited disease progression or recurrence. The progression sites were local (n=6), metastatic (n=9) or both local and metastatic (n=9). The results of the present study demonstrated that the therapeutic regimen should be patient-adjusted to maintain the treatment intensity and avoid toxicity-related mortality. In lower middle-income countries, short and intensified induction followed by consolidation of treatment, either by single or tandem autologous stem cell transplant, is needed to avoid prolonged exposure to myelosuppression and toxicity-related mortality.

Efficacy of different salvage regimens in progressive unresectable pediatric low-grade glioma.

Multiple salvage chemotherapy regimens are used in progressive low-grade glioma (LGG), with no single regimen being more effective than any other. In the present study, different salvage therapies were compared with regard to the response rate, overall survival (OS) rate, event-free survival (EFS) rate and visual outcome in 70 patients with pediatric LGG. Age was found to significantly affect the EFS and OS rates (P<0.001). The visual outcome was the same between the three regimens. The 2-year EFS and OS rates of the vincristine/carboplatin, monthly carboplatin and weekly vinblastine regimens were 64.7 and 70.6%, 71.0 and 85.0%, and 56.0 and 62.7%, respectively (P=0.6 for EFS; P=0.56 for OS). Overall, the present study demonstrated that age had a significant impact on survival. The three salvage regimens used were equally effective with regard to the radiological response and visual outcome. However, further randomized controlled trials are required to detect the optimal salvage therapy.

Association of Aggresomes with Survival Outcomes in Pediatric Medulloblastoma.

Aggresomes are inclusion bodies for misfolded/aggregated proteins. Despite the role of misfolded/aggregated proteins in neurological disorders, their role in cancer pathogenesis is poorly defined. In the current study we aimed to investigate whether aggresomes-positivity could be used to improve the disease subclassification and prognosis prediction of pediatric medulloblastoma. Ninety three pediatric medulloblastoma tumor samples were retrospectively stratified into three molecular subgroups; WNT, SHH and non-WNT/non-SHH, using immunohistochemistry and Multiplex Ligation Probe Amplification. Formation of aggresomes were detected using immunohistochemistry. Overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were determined according to risk stratification criteria. Multivariate Cox regression analyses were carried out to exclude confounders. Aggresomes formation was detected in 63.4% (n = 59/93) of samples. Aggresomes were non-randomly distributed among different molecular subgroups (P = 0.00002). Multivariate Cox model identified aggresomes' percentage at ≥20% to be significantly correlated with patient outcome in both OS (HR = 3.419; 95% CI, 1.30-8.93; P = 0.01) and EFS (HR = 3; 95% CI, 1.19-7.53; P = 0.02). The presence of aggresomes in ≥20% of the tumor identified poor responders in standard risk patients; OS (P = 0.02) and EFS (P = 0.06), and significantly correlated with poor outcome in non-WNT/non-SHH molecular subgroup; OS (P = 0.0002) and EFS (P = 0.0004).