Precision medicine in pediatric oncology

• Published in: Molecular and cellular pediatrics Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 6 - 15
• Main Authors: Burdach, Stefan E. G., Westhoff, Mike-Andrew, Steinhauser, Maximilian Felix, Debatin, Klaus-Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 31-08-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Children; Diabetes; Endocrinology; Genomes; Health risk assessment; Immunotherapy; Medicine & Public Health; Oncology; Pediatrics; Precision medicine; Radiation therapy; Review; T-cell-based therapy; Immunotherapy; Targeted drug therapies; Childhood cancer
• ISSN: 2194-7791; 2194-7791
• DOI: 10.1186/s40348-018-0084-3

Outcome in treatment of childhood cancers has improved dramatically since the 1970s. This success was largely achieved by the implementation of cooperative clinical research trial groups that standardized and developed treatment of childhood cancer. Nevertheless, outcome in certain types of malignancies is still unfavorable. Intensification of conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy improved outcome only marginally at the cost of acute and long-term side effects. Hence, it is necessary to develop targeted therapy strategies.
Here, we review the developments and perspectives in precision medicine in pediatric oncology with a special focus on targeted drug therapies like kinase inhibitors and inducers of apoptosis, the impact of cancer genome sequencing and immunotherapy.