TWiPO #13 ~ Updates, epidemiology of CNS tumors, birth order, and cell phone risks

August 19, 2011

Host Dr. Tim Cripe and co-hosts Dr. Lionel Chow and Dr. Jim Geller discuss updates to previous TWiPO episodes reporting on recent press coverage and publications of BiTE antibodies and modified T-cell approaches, and then discuss recent studies on birth defects, birth order, and cell phone use and possible link to risk of childhood cancers.

N Engl J Med. 2011 Aug 10. Chimeric Antigen Receptor-Modified T Cells in Chronic Lymphoid Leukemia.

Sci Transl Med 10 August 2011: T Cells with Chimeric Antigen Receptors Have Potent Antitumor Effects and Can Establish Memory in Patients with Advanced Leukemia; Vol. 3, Issue 95, p. 95ra73

7:40 Decitabine upregulation of NY-ESO-1 and MAGE family expression in NB. MAGE-A1, MAGE-A3, and NY-ESO-1 can be upregulated on neuroblastoma cells to facilitate cytotoxic-T lymphocyte-mediated tumor cell killing, K Lucas

9:50 Discussion of Rosenberg paper on immunotherapy in solid tumors; Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2011 Aug 2. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2011.116. Cell transfer immunotherapy for metastatic solid cancer-what clinicians need to know. Rosenberg SA

13:00 Birth anomolies in CNS pediatric tumors

29:00 Absolute risk is small; will this lead to genome-wide association studies?

31:51 Birth order and risk of pediatric cancers

42:30 Mobile phone use and incidence of pediatric CNS tumors.

46:47 Listener question about time elapse of planning clinical trials to opening.

Please send any comments or questions to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org