International Conference and Exhibition on Pediatric Oncology and Clinical Pediatrics August 11-13, 2016 Toronto, Canada

Biography:

Dr. Du received her PhD degree from the University of Kentucky. She completed her postdoctoral training at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas State University in USA. She has published more than 20 peer-review papers. Her current primary research interest is neuroblastoma cell differentiation and differentiation therapy, with goals to identify novel genes that control neuroblastoma cell differentiation and to discover new differentiation agents from various sources for treating neuroblastoma.

Abstract:

Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumor of infancy and the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood. Neuroblastoma arises from the neural crest cell precursors of the sympathetic nervous system that fails to complete the process of differentiation, which provides the basis for differentiation therapy, a treatment approach to induce the differentiation of the malignant cells and thereby leading to tumor growth arrest. However, only a limited number of differentiation agents is available to treat neuroblastoma, and resistance to current available differentiation agents is common. This highlights the needs to develop new and more effective differentiation agents. My research goals are to identify novel genes that control neuroblastoma cell differentiation and to discover new differentiation agents from various sources for treating neuroblastoma using a functional high-content screening approach that was recently developed in our group. This approach is based on quantification of the morphological differentiation marker of neuroblastoma cell – neurite outgrowth. By exploiting this screening approach, we have identified a group of novel differentiation-inducing microRNA mimics, synthetic oligonucleotides used to raise intracellular levels of microRNAs. These microRNA mimics induce the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells that are both sensitive and resistant to current differentiation agents, showing the promise of developing microRNA-based differentiation therapeutics to treat neuroblastomas that are resistant to current differentiation agents. Besides the work on microRNAs, we are currently expanding the discovery of novel differentiation agents to other drug sources, including natural products and synthetic small molecule compounds.

Biography:

Michael Olin has completed his PhD from from the University of Minnesota in 2006 and postdoctoral studies in the department of Medicine. He has dedicated his efforts to developing immunotherapy for brain tumors. He, among others, have utilized tumor cells as vaccine components, demonstrating promising results with minimal toxicity. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Despite the extensive use of tumor-derived vaccines for treatment of CNS tumors, the suppressive tumor-bound protein CD200 has been overlooked to date. CD200 is highly expressed in a variety of human tumors. Our preliminary studies detected CD200 on multiple CNS tumors. This introduces a major problem for the development of tumor-based cancer vaccines. We are “shooting ourselves in the foot” by vaccinating patients with cancer vaccines designed to mount an anti-tumor response. CD200 acts as a checkpoint blockade when engaging its receptor CD200R. CD200 upregulates peptidylprolyl isomerase A (PPIA), resulting in immune suppression. CD200 is expressed on endothelial cells within CNS tumor vessels down-regulating T-cell activation. We have developed a competitive inhibitor peptide overcoming CD200-induced immunosuppression. CD200 inhibitor peptide inhibits PPIA upregulation, enhances cytokine production, and significantly enhances survival. In addition, the CD200 inhibitor results in tumor regression and enhanced survival benefit in our canine model. Impact: We are the first to correlate CD200 in brain tumors and tumor-derived vaccines as an inhibitor of immune activation. Our data suggest that we are suppressing the immune system with the same vaccines designed specifically to induce an anti-tumor response. Tumor endothelial expression of CD200 is also a likely reason for escape from native immune surveillance and failure of other immunotherapeutic approaches. We are optimistic that use of our competitive inhibitor peptide against CD200 and anti-CD200R antibody will ultimately lead to the development of novel therapeutics that improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

Biography:

Associate Professor Elizabeth Algar was awarded a PhD from Griffith University Australia in 1989 and since then has worked in the broad area of cancer genetics with a specific focus on paediatric cancer. She has led research teams at several universities and research institutes in Australia including the University of Queensland and University of Melbourne. She has authored 60 publications and holds several awards for her work. She has been a panel member of several national grant bodies and is regularly called upon to review journal articles and grant applications. She presently holds the positions of Principal Scientist at Monash Health and Assoc Professor at Monash University and the Hudson Institute.

Abstract:

My laboratory is the predominant Australian testing laboratory for paediatric overgrowth disorders associated with increased cancer risk in childhood, including Beckwith Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) and Hemihypertrophy (HH). Cascade testing typically involves SNP microarray, methylation analysis of imprinting centres on 11p15.5 and CDKN1C (P57) mutation screening. Rare point mutations in NSD1, NLRP2, DNMT1 and ZFP57 have been described in BWS and like disorders as well as deletions and insertions within the 11p15.5 imprinting centres IC1 (H19/IGF2) and IC2 (KCNQ1OT1/CDKN1C). Tumour risk is increased in most genetic and epigenetic subtypes of BWS and HH however degree of risk and tumour type varies between groups. Parents of affected children are often understandably anxious to know the recurrence risk for these conditions and as the number of childhood cancer survivors’ increases, the possibility for transmission of a causative mutation is becoming an increasingly important issue. To improve our capacity to detect predisposing mutations in BWS, HH and in the paediatric tumours that have been described in these conditions, we have designed a gene panel comprising 37 genes as well as intergenic regions spanning imprinting centres on 11p15.5 and 11p13. We have used the Haloplex target enrichment system with sequences run on an Illumina MiSeq. We have performed pilot testing to show that the panel has clinical utility and demonstrates excellent sequence coverage of the 11p imprinting centres. Analysis of results to date has revealed novel mutations including OCT-4 binding site disruption in IC1 and subregions of homozygosity.

Biography:

Dr Nalini Pati is currently working as a consultant Adult and Paediatric Haematologist in Haematology Oncology in Canberra Hospital, Canberra and Clinical Senior Lecturer at Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, Australia. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of few journal.

Abstract:

Autoimmunity remains an important causative factor in developing several type of childhood cancers, particularly childhood lumphomas and other lymphoproliferative disorder. Also post diagnosis and treatment for any childhood malignancy, an autoimmune disorder may result in 40% of the cases. Hence this association is very complex. There need to develop various guidelines to be able to screen for these autoimmune disorder in cancer survivors or current clear strategie to reduce the risk. This paper will analyze and address the strength of this association more in detail and would reccommend a suitable screening tool.

Biography:

Ibtisam Al Shuaili is a Omani radiology fellow currently doing her fellowship in general pediatrics imaging in Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Canada. She graduated from College of Medicine in Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman 2009. She finished her radiology residency program at Oman Medical Specialty Board in Oman in 2015. She served as chief resident for the last 3 years of the residency. She have research interest with many research projects which were presented and published in international and national medical journals during the residency and medical school.

Abstract:

Introduction: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a relatively new histopathologic term for an entity previously known as inflammatory pseudotumor, which is a rare pseudosarcomatous inflammatory lesion that occurs in the soft tissues of young adults.

Objectives: The purpose of this review is to describe the pathogenesis, natural history, clinical presentation, imaging features, and management of inflammatory pseudo tumor in various locations throughout the body.

Conclusion: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a rare benign process mimicking malignant processes and has been found in almost every organ system. Radiologists should be familiar with this entity as a diagnostic consideration to avoid unnecessary surgery.

Biography:

Tomokazu Matsuura has graduated from Keio University School of Medicine. He is the chief physician of National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, Department of Nephrology. He is a councilor of Japanese Society of Nephrology and a part-time Assistant Professor at Keio University, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nephrology.

Abstract:

Long-term nephrotoxicity of ifosfamide is occasionally progressive, and, in such case, there has been no specific treatment to prevent progression. It has been reported that the presence of karyomegalic interstitial nephritis, which is rare type of interstitial nephritis, may be related to ifosfamide-induced nephropathy with poor prognosis and resistant to the immunosuppressive therapy. A 15-year-old boy presented with progressive nephrotoxicity three years after systemic chemotherapy with ifosfamide and cisplatin for the treatment of osteosarcoma. Renal biopsy revealed the severe tubulointerstitial nephritis with tubular atrophy, and focal global and segmental glomerular sclerosis. It also showed tubular epithelial cells with variably sized nuclei, some of which were massively enlarged, abnormal hyperchromatic, irregular shaped, and bizarre-appearing. These morphological changes were suggestive of the histology of karyomegalic interstitial nephritis. Corticosteroid retarded the progression of nephrotoxicity. The present case is the first report suggesting that corticosteroid was effective against the late-onset renal toxicity by ifosfamide therapy. Our case also suggests that karyomegalic interstitial nephritis may be the result of long-term nephrotoxicity of ifosfamide. Since concurrent treatment with cisplatin is one of the risk factors for ifosfamide nephrotoxicity, there is a possibility that cisplatin may have a synergetic effect with ifosfamide for producing karyomegalic interstitial nephritis.

Biography:

Gehan Lotfy has completed her MD at the age of 35 years from Minia University and pediatric oncology board at 2015. She is the director of pediatric hematology and oncology unit. She had published more than 10 papers in reputed journals and had shared in many international pediatric hematology and oncology congresses. She is an Egyptian pediatric board trainer since 2011.

Abstract:

Background: Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) is a form of the disease which does not present with Hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAg) in the serum of patients; but, HBV-DNA is detectable in the serum and hepatocytes. OBI is an important risk factor to induce post transfusion hepatitis (PTH), liver cirrhosis (LC), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and reactivation of the HBV.

Objective: To detect OBI in frequently blood and blood product transfused pediatric patients.

Patients & Methods: Forty five patients randomly selected from blood transfusion unit in the central blood bank were included. Their ages were 3-18 year. Another known hepatitis B positive age and sex matched patients were enrolled as controls. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti hepatitis B surface antibodies (antiHBsAb), anti hepatitis B core antibodies (antiHBcAb) and hepatitis B DNA (PCR) were done for both patients and controls.

Results: HBV-DNA; detected by nested PCR; was present in 27 (60%) of the 45 patients of the studied group who were negative for HBsAg. HBcAb was detected in 13(48%) patients from the 27 HBV-DNA positive patients whom were considered as seropositive OBI subjects and 14 patients (52%) were negative and were considered as seronegative OBI subjects.

Conclusions: The potential risk of acquiring occult hepatitis B virus infection is higher in patients receiving multiple and frequent blood transfusions.

Biography:

After completion of Duquesne Marilyn master thesis at UMONS, She obtained a PhD grant co-funded by Prof. Joelle Nortier, Head of the department of dialysis and kidney transplantation at Erasme hospital in Belgium, and Prof. Jean-Marie Colet, Head of the Human biology & Toxicology laboratory, UMONS. This collaboration also includes the nephrology department of Zagreb University Hospital headed by Dr Bojan Jelakovic. Some results of this current work have been published in the Journal of Cancer Science & Therapy or presented during International conference on traditional and alternative medicine and the kidney week of the Amercican Society of Nephrology.

Abstract:

The composition of a large number of low molecular-weight endogenous molecules fluctuates in human biological fluid according to the physiopathological status of an individual. The spectroscopic analysis of these small molecules in diverse biofluids is called “metabonomic” and generates profiles that can be further associated with specific pathologies.
Approximately 2,000 to 3,000 metabolites are relevant for early clinical diagnostics and most of them are specific for a particular biochemical pathway or patho-chemical processes.
Taken together, subsets of those metabolites constitute functional fingerprints which can be useful in many clinical applications, including pediatry. Clinical metabonomic has already proved its utility in neonatalogy or children's medicine to predict prematurity, mode of delivery, perinatal asphyxia or neurological, kidney and respiratory diseases. Moreover, to better apprehend drugs response from adults to children, pharmacometabonomic is developed to predict drug efficacy or adverse effects and, consequently, can be used to define a safe and effective pediatric dose. Examples from the literature will be presented.
Blood and urine are the most common biofluids used in metabonomics. The simplicity, safety and non-invasive collection of urine samples makes metabonomic a very appropriate diagnostic tool in pediatric medicine.
In addition, in house data obtained in a metabonomic study conducted in the context of a large-scale human kidney disease, the Balkan Endemic Nephropathy, will be presented to demonstrate the potential of this recent omics technology to highlight the mechanism of disease development or to identify biomarkers of diseases.

Biography:

Dr. Divya Subburaj Currently doing FNB( Fellowship under the national board) in pediatric hematology and oncology at Apollo hospital,Chennai from feb 2015. She Completed her undergraduation in 2009 from Bangalore medical college and research institute. She have done my specialisation in Pediatrics(M D ) from the above Institute. She Completed MRCPCH part 1 & 2.

Abstract:

A total of fifty four children had received induction chemotherapy consisting of duanorubicin, cytarabine and etoposide as per the UKMRC AML induction protocol were included in the study. Forty seven episodes of febrile neutropenia were recorded. Thirty four percent had culture positive gram negative sepsis. Fifty five percent of the febrile neutropenic episodes were blood culture negative. Enterocolitis was the most common focus of infection in these children. Over the last 3 years (2012-2015) the incidence of gram negative sepsis had risen to 38% when compared to 24% during the 2003 to 2011 period. Though the mortality rates had remained the same in both groups, the morbidity rates which included duration of hospital stay, need for pediatric intensive care support, the use of colistin due to carbapenam resistant infections and the use of granulocyte transfusions to help tide over the sepsis had dramatically increased.

Biography:

Dr. Soad K. Al Jaouni is a Professor & Consultant of Hematology and Professor/Consultant of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Senior Researcher at Hematology Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) a tertiary care medical center, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract:

Background: Recent studies showed that Phoenix dactylifera palm date have good nutritious value and medicinal potential.The aim of the study was to determine the effect of regular intake of Phoenix dactylifera palm date called Ajwa on number of infections, hospitalization associated with fever neutropenia and mortality of pediatric cancer patients admitted to King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital, a tertiary care medical center, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A non-randomized controlled intervention study was done during the period of 2008-2015. A total of 55 pediatric cancer patients with hematologic or non-hematologic malignancies (who were treated by chemotherapy/radiotherapy) were enrolled in the study. A total of 32 patients were given Ajwa and 23 did not administer Ajwa. Th e outcomes were compared between both groups within the 5 years follow-up period. Culture and sensitivity was done. Th e study was approved by Ethics Research Committee of the hospital.

Results: The study included 27 males and 28 females, with male to female ratio of almost 1:1. Th eir mean age was 9.3 with S.D. of ± 4.4. Children enrolled in the Ajwa group showed minimal positive cultures as compared to non Ajwa (control) groups during the 5-year follow-up period. There is marked reduction in the mortality rate of patients enrolled in Ajwa group as compared to other group (RR=0.74; 95 % CI: 0.06-1.00). Furthermore, there was a signifi cant reduction in the number of hospital admission per year in the Ajwa group (5.74±5.8 times) as compared to others (17.34±10.29 times), with a statistical
signifi cant diff erence (p≤0.05). Additionally, the majority of patients on Ajwa group are currently off treatment. The main cause of death of patients in the non Ajwa group was disease progression and infections (76.9%). Ten patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in the Ajwa group (31.2%) showed protection against chemotherapy induced cardiac complications, while this didn't occur among the control group.

Conclusions: Regular intake of Phoenix dactylifera (Ajwa) showed a signifi cant decrease in the number of infections, number of hospitalization per year and mortality rate among pediatric cancer patients. Ajwa have some sort of cardiac protection. Adding Ajwa to the standard treatment of pediatric cancer patients can improve their treatment outcome.

Biography:

Dr. Du received her PhD degree from the University of Kentucky. She completed her postdoctoral training at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas State University in USA. She has published more than 20 peer-review papers. Her current primary research interest is neuroblastoma cell differentiation and differentiation therapy, with goals to identify novel genes that control neuroblastoma cell differentiation and to discover new differentiation agents from various sources for treating neuroblastoma.

Abstract:

Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumor of infancy and the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood. Neuroblastoma arises from the neural crest cell precursors of the sympathetic nervous system that fails to complete the process of differentiation, which provides the basis for differentiation therapy, a treatment approach to induce the differentiation of the malignant cells and thereby leading to tumor growth arrest. However, only a limited number of differentiation agents is available to treat neuroblastoma, and resistance to current available differentiation agents is common. This highlights the needs to develop new and more effective differentiation agents. My research goals are to identify novel genes that control neuroblastoma cell differentiation and to discover new differentiation agents from various sources for treating neuroblastoma using a functional high-content screening approach that was recently developed in our group. This approach is based on quantification of the morphological differentiation marker of neuroblastoma cell – neurite outgrowth. By exploiting this screening approach, we have identified a group of novel differentiation-inducing microRNA mimics, synthetic oligonucleotides used to raise intracellular levels of microRNAs. These microRNA mimics induce the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells that are both sensitive and resistant to current differentiation agents, showing the promise of developing microRNA-based differentiation therapeutics to treat neuroblastomas that are resistant to current differentiation agents. Besides the work on microRNAs, we are currently expanding the discovery of novel differentiation agents to other drug sources, including natural products and synthetic small molecule compounds.

Biography:

Giannoula Lakka Klement, MD, specializes in the treatment of rare tumors and vascular anomalies, and conducts basic science research into tumor and wound angiogenesis, with emphasis on the role of platelets in angiogenesis. A Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center, she is also the Director of Rare Tumors and Vascular Anomalies Center at Floating Hospital. Dr. Klement is an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. She is board certified in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Hemaotololgy/Oncology.

Abstract:

Research has exposed cancer to be a very heterogeneous disease with a high degree of intertumoral and intra-tumoral variability. Each individual harbors a unique tumor profile, and this cancer molecular signature makes the use of histology-based treatments problematic. These diagnostic categories, while necessary for care, thwart the use of molecular information for treatment as many molecular characteristics cross tissue type. This difficulty is compounded by the struggle to keep abreast the scientific advances made in all fields of science and by the enormous challenge to organize, cross-reference, and apply molecular data for patient benefit. In order to supplement the site-specific, histology-driven diagnosis with genomic, proteomic and metabolomics information, a paradigm shift in diagnosis and treatment of patients is required. Most physicians are open and keen to use the emerging data for therapy. But even those physicians versed in molecular therapeutics are overwhelmed with the amount of available data, and the lack of tools to integrate it. It is not surprising that even though The Human Genome Project was completed thirteen years ago, our patients have not benefited from the information. Physicians cannot, and should not be asked to process the gigabytes of genomic and proteomic information on their own in order to provide patients with safe therapies. The following consensus summary identifies the needed for practice changes, proposes potential solutions to the present crisis of informational overload, suggests ways of providing physicians with the tools necessary for interpreting patient specific molecular profiles, and facilitates the implementation of quantitative precision medicine.

Biography:

Annick Beaugrand Graduated in Medicine from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (2003), Medical Residency in Pediatrics by HUEC (2006) Specialization in pediatric oncology at the Federal University of Parana (PR / Brazil-2008) and the Institut Gustave Roussy (France- 2008 -2011), Degree from the University Paris XI (Paris / France, 2009) in child oncology. Currently a doctor in the House of support to children with cancer and substitute teacher at the Pediatric Department of the Federal University of RN – Brazil and Pediatric Professor of Federal University of RN, Brazil.

Abstract:

Childhood cancer is a success story of modern medicine in which effective treatments have been identified for previously untreatable diseases. Treatment toxicity continues to be substantial despite advances in supportive care, and while survival rates have improved, cures for many with high risk and metastatic disease are not achievable despite aggressive surgical, chemotherapeutic and radiotherapy combination. The cure rates in pediatric oncology have been improved due to standardized treatment strategies and centralization of therapy. Much progress has been made using chemotherapeutic agents and treatment modalities introduced decades ago with refinement to improve disease-free survival. Better understanding of treatment-related toxicity has guided the design of less-toxic therapies. Elucidation of the principles of tumor biology and the development of novel laboratory technologies have led to significant progress, as bringing immunotherapies to the bedside. Understanding the molecular basis are changing the landscape of molecular genetic and genomic testing that may be used to identify risk factors, although the clinical utility of such testing is unclear. Molecular subtyping is instrumental towards selection of model systems for fundamental research in tumor pathogenesis (as new medulloblastoma disease classification) and clinical patient assessment. Can also be used to identify variants that influence drug metabolism or interaction of a drug with its cellular target, allowing customization of choice of drug and dosage. There has been significant progress in the clinical development of monoclonal antibodies as cancer therapies with promising results emerging from pediatric studies. Dramatic progress in scientific discovery and technology has led to rapid development and translation of therapies for the clinic. The challenge to the field of pediatric oncology is to develop biologic based approaches that enhance the benefits of standard therapies, lessen toxicity, and extend the gains in survival to those high-risk groups that have not benefited from standard treatment.

Biography:

Michael Olin has completed his PhD from from the University of Minnesota in 2006 and postdoctoral studies in the department of Medicine. He has dedicated his efforts to developing immunotherapy for brain tumors. He, among others, have utilized tumor cells as vaccine components, demonstrating promising results with minimal toxicity. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Despite the extensive use of tumor-derived vaccines for treatment of CNS tumors, the suppressive tumor-bound protein CD200 has been overlooked to date. CD200 is highly expressed in a variety of human tumors. Our preliminary studies detected CD200 on multiple CNS tumors. This introduces a major problem for the development of tumor-based cancer vaccines. We are “shooting ourselves in the foot” by vaccinating patients with cancer vaccines designed to mount an anti-tumor response. CD200 acts as a checkpoint blockade when engaging its receptor CD200R. CD200 upregulates peptidylprolyl isomerase A (PPIA), resulting in immune suppression. CD200 is expressed on endothelial cells within CNS tumor vessels down-regulating T-cell activation. We have developed a competitive inhibitor peptide overcoming CD200-induced immunosuppression. CD200 inhibitor peptide inhibits PPIA upregulation, enhances cytokine production, and significantly enhances survival. In addition, the CD200 inhibitor results in tumor regression and enhanced survival benefit in our canine model. Impact: We are the first to correlate CD200 in brain tumors and tumor-derived vaccines as an inhibitor of immune activation. Our data suggest that we are suppressing the immune system with the same vaccines designed specifically to induce an anti-tumor response. Tumor endothelial expression of CD200 is also a likely reason for escape from native immune surveillance and failure of other immunotherapeutic approaches. We are optimistic that use of our competitive inhibitor peptide against CD200 and anti-CD200R antibody will ultimately lead to the development of novel therapeutics that improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

Biography:

Dr Nahla Mobark is pediatric oncologist in Pediatric Hematology & Oncology Department in Cancer Center King Fahad Medical City KFMC, Riyadh Saudi Arabia which is huge tertiary hospital in with around 1000 bed capacity. She had MBBS from KASER-ELAINI Medical College Cairo University, then pediatric residency in Children hospital king Saud medical complex KSMC Ministry of Health (MOH) of Saudi Arabia ,she had membership of Royal College Of Pediatric & Child Health, UK MRCPCH, and then pediatric hematology oncology fellowship program with training in bone marrow transplant. She had got a big experience in diagnosing &management of pediatric patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumours also benign hematology cases i.e .SCA, thalassemia etc. Dr Nahla have been involved with teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students and nurses throughout her career.

Abstract:

Treatment advances in pediatric Hodgkin’s lymphoma HL have progressed to the point that most children and adolescents diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease will enjoy long-term disease free survival, although it was the fourth most common malignancy in Saudi children as reported in Saudi cancer registry less information is available about pediatric Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and its outcome in Saudi Arabia. Pediatric Oncology department is one of the major sections of comprehensive Cancer Centre in KFMC which start accepting new cases of pediatric neoplasm including non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2006 and now it is consider second center in Saudi Arabia which provide comprehensive care for children with cancer

Biography:

Dr Nalini Pati is currently working as a consultant Adult and Paediatric Haematologist in Haematology Oncology in Canberra Hospital, Canberra and Clinical Senior Lecturer at Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, Australia. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of few journal.

Abstract:

Autoimmunity remains an important causative factor in developing several type of childhood cancers, particularly childhood lumphomas and other lymphoproliferative disorder. Also post diagnosis and treatment for any childhood malignancy, an autoimmune disorder may result in 40% of the cases. Hence this association is very complex. There need to develop various guidelines to be able to screen for these autoimmune disorder in cancer survivors or current clear strategie to reduce the risk. This paper will analyze and address the strength of this association more in detail and would reccommend a suitable screening tool.

Biography:

Dr Nahla Mobark is pediatric oncologist in Pediatric Hematology & Oncology Department in Cancer Center King Fahad Medical City KFMC, Riyadh Saudi Arabia which is huge tertiary hospital in with around 1000 bed capacity. She had MBBS from KASER-ELAINI Medical College Cairo University, then pediatric residency in Children hospital king Saud medical complex KSMC Ministry of Health (MOH) of Saudi Arabia ,she had membership of Royal College Of Pediatric & Child Health, UK MRCPCH, and then pediatric hematology oncology fellowship program with training in bone marrow transplant. She had got a big experience in diagnosing &management of pediatric patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumours also benign hematology cases i.e .SCA, thalassemia etc. Dr Nahla have been involved with teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students and nurses throughout her career.

Abstract:

Treatment advances in pediatric Hodgkin’s lymphoma HL have progressed to the point that most children and adolescents diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease will enjoy long-term disease free survival, although it was the fourth most common malignancy in Saudi children as reported in Saudi cancer registry less information is available about pediatric Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and its outcome in Saudi Arabia. Pediatric Oncology department is one of the major sections of comprehensive Cancer Centre in KFMC which start accepting new cases of pediatric neoplasm including non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2006 and now it is consider second center in Saudi Arabia which provide comprehensive care for children with cancer

Biography:

Annick Beaugrand Graduated in Medicine from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (2003), Medical Residency in Pediatrics by HUEC (2006) Specialization in pediatric oncology at the Federal University of Parana (PR / Brazil-2008) and the Institut Gustave Roussy (France- 2008 -2011), Degree from the University Paris XI (Paris / France, 2009) in child oncology. Currently a doctor in the House of support to children with cancer and substitute teacher at the Pediatric Department of the Federal University of RN – Brazil and Pediatric Professor of Federal University of RN, Brazil.

Abstract:

Childhood cancer is a success story of modern medicine in which effective treatments have been identified for previously untreatable diseases. Treatment toxicity continues to be substantial despite advances in supportive care, and while survival rates have improved, cures for many with high risk and metastatic disease are not achievable despite aggressive surgical, chemotherapeutic and radiotherapy combination. The cure rates in pediatric oncology have been improved due to standardized treatment strategies and centralization of therapy. Much progress has been made using chemotherapeutic agents and treatment modalities introduced decades ago with refinement to improve disease-free survival. Better understanding of treatment-related toxicity has guided the design of less-toxic therapies. Elucidation of the principles of tumor biology and the development of novel laboratory technologies have led to significant progress, as bringing immunotherapies to the bedside. Understanding the molecular basis are changing the landscape of molecular genetic and genomic testing that may be used to identify risk factors, although the clinical utility of such testing is unclear. Molecular subtyping is instrumental towards selection of model systems for fundamental research in tumor pathogenesis (as new medulloblastoma disease classification) and clinical patient assessment. Can also be used to identify variants that influence drug metabolism or interaction of a drug with its cellular target, allowing customization of choice of drug and dosage. There has been significant progress in the clinical development of monoclonal antibodies as cancer therapies with promising results emerging from pediatric studies. Dramatic progress in scientific discovery and technology has led to rapid development and translation of therapies for the clinic. The challenge to the field of pediatric oncology is to develop biologic based approaches that enhance the benefits of standard therapies, lessen toxicity, and extend the gains in survival to those high-risk groups that have not benefited from standard treatment.

Biography:

Herman Suit was born on February 8, 1929 in Houston Texas and educated in the Houston public schools and the University of Houston obtaining a B. Sc in August 1948. He graduated from Baylor Medical School [AOA] in 1952, MD and M.Sc [biochemistry]. In 1970, Suit was brought to MGH as Chief of Radiation Oncology and a Professor at Harvard Medical School. After 30 years, Suit was exceedingly pleased to transfer the Chief’s position to Jay S Loeffler on October 1, 2000 and to observe his clear success.

Abstract:

There are many data that support the concept of drug resistant stem cell populations. Stem cells as a sub-population of radiation resistant tumor cells are almost generally accepted as a component of human tumors. This has conceptually been extended to the concept that the stem cell population is radiation resistant and is the basis for local regrowth of tumors treated by radiation with intent to cure. There have been no quantitation of: 1] the fraction of tumor cells that are members of this stem cell population; 2] radiation sensitivity of these resistant cells relative to the other tumor cells and 3] micro enviornment of these stem cells. There has not been generated experimental data that supports the concept of a small radiation resistant population of stem cells. In fact, the published data encountered have yielded the opposite of. For example, two experiments, performed in laboratories in different countries, have reported that the TCD50 values [dose to inactivate half of the irradiated tumors] were significantly less for transplants of the recurrent tumors than for the previously unirradiated tumors. Further radiation cell survival curves for numerous mammalian cell lines studied in vitro by measuring survival fraction vs dose for survival fraction of 10-[2-4] provided no evidence of a resistant sub-population. One current paper, found that decreasing the number of endothelial cells in tumors did not alter tumor response. These findings and others will be considered.

Biography:

Prof. Dr. Norbert Graf is Professor of Paediatrics and Director of the Clinic for Paediatric Oncology and Haematology and a Dean for students at the Faculty of Medicine of Saarland University in Germany. He is the chairman of the Renal Tumour Study Group of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP-RTSG). He is an Associate Member of COG (Children’s Oncology Group, North America) and closely collaborating with the COG Renal Study Group. He was the coordinator of the EU funded project p-medicine and is enrolled in several other ongoing European projects. Norbert Graf has more than 25 years of experience with clinical trials.

Abstract:

Medicine is undergoing a paradigm shift from phenotyping to genotyping. This is supported by systems approaches to disease, modeling and visualization technologies, and new computational and mathematical tools. An open, modular architectural framework for tools, models and services needs to be provided to design and develop hypermodels This includes:

• to share and handle efficiently the enormous personalized data sets

• to ensure that policies for privacy, non-discrimination, and access to data, services, tools and models are implemented to maximize data protection and data security

• to enable standardization and semantic data interoperability

• to integrate models from system biology with VPH models

• to guarantee that tools, services and models are clinically driven and do enhance decision support

• to provide tools for large-scale, privacy-preserving data mining, and literature mining

• to enhance patient empowerment In addition all tools and models need to be evaluated and validated by end-users. Feedback loops to developers for continuous improvements have to be integrated. Such an innovative architecture should promote the principle of open source. All tools, models and services have to be tested in concrete advanced clinical research projects and clinical trials that target urgent topics of the medical research community. Maintenance and further developments of the framework need to be addressed. To sustain such a self-supporting infrastructure realistic use cases have to offer tangible results for end-users in their daily practice. Teaching and educational programs for end-users have to be implemented to facilitate the access to the platform and the use of tools, models and services.

Biography:

Georgios Stamatakos received the Diploma degree in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, the M.Sc. degree in bioengineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K., and the Ph.D. degree in physics from NTUA. He is a Research Professor at the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), NTUA. He is the Founder and Director of the In Silico Oncology and In Silico Medicine Group. Dr Stamatakos is the coordinator of the EU-US large scale integrating research project “CHIC: Computational Horizons in Cancer: Developing Meta- and Hyper-Multiscale Models and Repositories for In Silico Oncology” FP7-ICT-2011-9, (600841).

Abstract:

Developing robust, reproducible, interoperable and collaborative hyper-models of diseases and normal physiology is a sine qua non necessity if rational, coherent and comprehensive exploitation of the invaluable information hidden within human multiscale biological data is envisaged. Responding to this imperative in the context of both the broad Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) initiative and the paradigmatic cancer domain, the large scale integrating transatlantic CHIC project (http://www.chic-vph.eu/ ) develops a suite of tools, services and secure infrastructure that supports accessibility and reusability of VPH mathematical and computational hypermodels. These include a hypermodelling infrastructure consisting primarily of a hypermodelling editor and a hypermodelling execution environment, an infrastructure for semantic metadata management, a hypermodel repository, a hypermodel-driven clinical data repository, a distributed metadata repository and an in silico trial repository for the storage of executed simulation scenarios. Multiscale models and data are semantically annotated using ontological and annotating tools. An image processing and visualization toolkit, and cloud and virtualization services are also being developed. In order to ensure clinical relevance and foster clinical acceptance of hypermodelling, the whole endeavour is driven by the clinical partners of the consortium. Innovative cancer hypermodels are collaboratively developed by the consortium cancer modellers and provide the framework and the testbed for the development of the CHIC technologies. Clinical adaptation and partial clinical validation of hypermodels and hypermodel Oncosimulators are under way. Indicative strategies, algorithms, systems, results as well as the outcome of clinical adaptation and partial clinical validation of hypermodels are presented.

Biography:

Marc Stauch; Dr jur (Göttingen), MA (Oxon) gained his legal training in the UK, qualifying as a Solicitor, before lecturing law for several years at English Universities; he is co-author of a popular English law student text and materials on Medical Law and Ethics, now in its 5th edition. After moving to Germany in 2003 he wrote his doctoral thesis comparing medical malpractice law in England and Germany. As a research associate at the Institute for Legal Informatics in Hannover, a principal focus of his current work is data protection law.

Abstract:

The law should aim to support new technologies with potential for benefiting mankind, but also needs to protect relevant individual interests – especially where these are embodied in longstanding ethical principles. In the context of health law, the regulatory focus has been on avoiding harm to individual patients and research subjects; the paradox is that, if research and/or care is made harder or delayed by legal or professional ethical restrictions, patients also stand to be harmed, by being denied better treatments. Against this background, this paper assesses how the law is faring in regulating the field of health informatics, with particular reference to in silico developments in research and care, as exemplified by the EU FP7 project ‘Computational Horizons in Cancer’ (CHIC). Two main areas are addressed where (IT and medical) researches might complain the law is over-cautious, and has failed to balance risks and benefits appropriately. The first concerns restrictions on use of patient health data to evolve and validate new clinical approaches – here data protection law, particularly the EU regime, but also the rules in North America (under HIPAA and PIPEDA) is considered. The second issue concerns the onerous validation requirements to which innovative health care products, including data-driven in silico solutions, are subject prior to clinical deployment. Here it is suggested there are indeed reasons to favor a lighter regulatory approach than in relation to the licensing of traditional medical products and devices.

Biography:

Ravi Radhakrishnan is a Professor of Bioengineering, Biochemistry & Biophysics, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise is in chemical physics, statistical mechanics, and computational biology his laboratory is currently funded primarily by grants from US National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and European Commission and focuses its research on the biophysics of single molecules and cell membranes and signaling mechanisms in cancer. Through his work, he has pioneered novel discovery platforms in in silico oncology and in silico pharmacology. Radhakrishnan and has authored over 100 articles in leading peer reviewed Journals and serves as a referee for over 50 leading journals, publishers, and federal funding agencies. He also serves as an editorial board member and associate editor for 5 journals, and also regularly serves as a Panelist and Study Section member for National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and several Federal Science Foundations in the EU. Radhakrishnan is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Abstract:

We have developed a multi scale platform for predictions of the effects of mutations on oncogene activation through a combination of molecular, biophysical, and cellular models. We combine the specificity of molecular modeling with the power of network models to predict the molecular mechanisms that lead to activation of pathways. We also employ spatial and stochastic models to describe how the effects of the tumor microenvironment can lead to oncogenic signals through non-canonical pathways. We will describe the applications of these models in the clinical contexts of non-small-cell lung cancer, neuroblastoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma. This work is funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the EU.)

Biography:

Daniel Abler is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Surgical Technology and Biomechanics at the University of Bern. He has been Marie Curie Fellow working for the European Centre for Nuclear Research and at the Particle Therapy Cancer Research Institute in Oxford. Daniel received his PhD degree from the University of Oxford in 2014, a Diploma in physics from the Friedrich-Alexander University, Germany, and followed studies at Imperial College London, UK. He has contributed to feasibility studies and research prototypes in physics and information technologies for medical applications, in particular related to cancer research.

Abstract:

Access to high-quality clinical data is a prerequisite for medical data analysis and in-silico medicine. Data drives the development of research questions, feeds computational algorithms, and provides the evidence base for validating complex disease models which form the basis for personalized simulations in the future. However, provision of uniform access to, and secondary use of, clinical treatment or study data is hampered by the data's intrinsic characteristics: its confidential nature, and its heterogeneity in terms of sources, quality and information.
The clinical data repository (CDR) has been designed to address these critical issues by providing a unique access-point to clinical data in compliance with the European medico-legal framework. CDR has been initiated as an exchange platform for medical images, but was quickly extended to other health-related data, in particular clinical treatment & follow-up, histological and genetic information. Data access is granted based on a role-based policy within a single-sign-on security framework. CDR also supports the (pseudo-)anonymization process and provides facilities for semantic annotation of data during and after the upload process, enabling semantically mediated queries for improved data discovery.
CDR has been developed by SICAS (http://www.si-cas.com) and the University of Bern (http://www.istb.unibe.ch/) with support from the EU CHIC (http://chic-vph.eu/) and Co-Me (http://co-me.ch) projects.
This presentation will outline the principal requirements and the main challenges related to the sharing of heterogeneous clinical data for research purposes, discuss properties of a generic solution, and detail implementation and application in the CHIC context.

Biography:

Kostas Marias is Principal Researcher at the Computational Biomedicine Laboratory at the Institute of Computer Science of the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas and Head of the Computational Biomedicine Laboratory. He completed his PhD at the University College London Medical School and has previously worked at the University of Oxford and the University of Crete. He works primarily in medical image processing and modeling for personalized medicine. He is the author or co-author of more than 30 published journal papers and has presented at 80 conferences and serves on the technical program committees of a number of international conferences.

Abstract:

The CHIC project will deliver an integrated environment that will allow the creation of multi-scale cancer hyper-models from a plethora of elementary models shared by the global cancer modeling community. Due to the high complexity of the modeling work and especially its computational demands, this multi-scale modeling environment takes advantage of state of the art “cloud” technologies, which are provisioned outside the clinical setting. In order to make this a truly functional framework for accelerating the clinical translation of multi-scale cancer models a Clinical Research Application Framework (“CRAF”) has been developed to support a unified and simple user experience and provide a “CHIC-in-a-box” abstraction for the clinicians to use in clinical research performed in their premises. To this end, its user interface is designed to be simple and smooth by hiding the complexity of the CHIC platform while, at the same time, demonstrating its full potential for clinical research and empowering the clinician to use the underlying technologies for the benefit of the cancer patient. At the same time, CRAF coordinates the functionality of other CHIC components that are also highly important for the clinicians to gain access to the CHIC services, such as the Data Upload tool for uploading patient data to the CHIC cloud, and the Visualization and image processing tools (e.g. Dr-Eye). In this presentation, the CRAF will be presented with emphasis in the integration with all the necessary software components addressing the hyper-modeling composition and execution needs.

Biography:

Raushan Kurmasheva has completed her PhD at the age of 29 years at Kazakh State National University, and her postdoctoral studies at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, UTHSC San Antonio. To date, she has published 46 peer-reviewed papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an AdHoc reviewer on MCT journal.

Abstract:

Eighty-five percent of all Ewing sarcomas, the fourth most common highly malignant childhood cancer, is defined by a tumor-specific chromosomal translocation t(11;22)(q24;q12) between the EWSR1 and FLI1 genes. DNA damage induced by expression of EWSR1-FLI1 fusion gene is potentiated by PARP1 inhibition in Ewing cells, where EWSR1-FLI1 genes act in a positive feedback loop to maintain the expression of PARP1. As single agents, PARP1 inhibitors have shown promising activity in-vitro, but only modest activity in in-vivo models. In our previous work (in PPTP), we showed that low level DNA damage by temozolomide (TMZ) can be potentiated up-to 40-fold through inhibition of PARP1 by talazoparib, leading to dramatic tumor regressions in half of the Ewing sarcoma xenograft models. We are currently investigating the biochemical differences between Ewing cell lines where there is synergy in xenograft models in mice, and those where the combination is inactive; we hypothesize that resistance of Ewing sarcoma xenografts to the synergy of the drug combination is a consequence of intrinsic resistance to either or both talazoparib or TMZ. The combination talazoparib-TMZ in Ewing sarcoma xenografts is the most dramatic synergy between two drugs to be reported. Determining the mechanism(s) of resistance to combination therapy will allow potentially identify biomarkers that will allow identification of patients likely to benefit from such treatment, and spare toxicity for those unlikely to respond.

Biography:

Dr. Samaan is a Pediatric Endocrinologist at McMaster Children’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University. His program of research is in Translational Immunometabolism, with specific focus on childhood obesity and diabetes. This program is focused on defining the determinants of immune-metabolic crosstalk in high-risk pediatric populations, and to design interventions to manage obesity and diabetes.

Abstract:

More than 5,000 children are diagnosed annually with brain tumors in North America. Despite significant breakthroughs in tumor biology and in therapy, survivors of childhood brain tumors (SCBT) have significant comorbidities that shorten their lifespan and affect their quality of life. Survivors of childhood cancer are at risk of cardiovascular and diabetes, but this is less well studied in brain tumor survivors. The Canadian Study of the Determinants of Endometabolic health in Children (CanDECIDE) was designed to investigate the risk factors of cardiometabolic disorders in SCBT, and compare them to a non-caner control group. In recent analyses, female SCBT were found to have enhanced visceral adiposity compared to controls. The presence of a major cardiometabolic risk factor within few years post surviving a brain tumor is an important determinant of long-term outcomes in SCBT. We discuss the implications of these findings, potential explanations and future directions.

Biography:

Dr. Soad K. Al Jaouni is a Professor & Consultant of Hematology and Professor/Consultant of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Senior Researcher at Hematology Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) a tertiary care medical center, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract:

This study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Saudi honey as integrative approach in prophylaxis and treatment of chemo-radiotherapy induced mucositis among pediatric cancer patients at King Abdulaziz University Hospital at King Abdulaziz University during October 2004 to October 2005. Forty patients were randomized into two groups: receiving chemo/radiotherapy with the additional Saudi honey and control group receiving treatment without the use of honey. All patients were evaluated clinically, mouth ulcers were evaluated. Cultures were done.

Biography:

Abdulqader Al-Hebshi has completed his Jordanian and Arab Board in general Pediatrics in 2010 then he did a Clinical Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology Oncology for three years from King Hussein Cancer Centre in Jordan after that he joined The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto to do one Year Clinical Fellowship 2014-2015, Currently he is a consultant of Hematology & Oncology and the clinical supervisor of medical interns at Prince Mohammed Bin Abulaziz Hospital - National Guard Health Affairs in Saudia Arabia. He is an active member in ASPHO American Society Of Hematology & Oncology.

Abstract:

Association of osteosarcoma with certain syndromes is well known, but the incidence varies from one report to another, and from one syndrome to another, Ruthmond syndrome is the most common syndrome reported to be associated while others like Blackfan Diamond anemia and Osteogenesis imperfect are very rarely associated, and others like Osteopoikelosis are never reported to be associated with Osteosarcoma.
Our aim from this review is to report our experience and frequency of association of osteosarcoma with syndromatic features, and to try to see if these syndromes have effects in the prognosis of Osteosarcoma.

Biography:

Prof. Dr. Norbert Graf is Professor of Paediatrics and Director of the Clinic for Paediatric Oncology and Haematology and a Dean for students at the Faculty of Medicine of Saarland University in Germany. He is the chairman of the Renal Tumour Study Group of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP-RTSG). He is an Associate Member of COG (Children’s Oncology Group, North America) and closely collaborating with the COG Renal Study Group. He was the coordinator of the EU funded project p-medicine and is enrolled in several other ongoing European projects. Norbert Graf has more than 25 years of experience with clinical trials.

Abstract:

Medicine is undergoing a paradigm shift from phenotyping to genotyping. This is supported by systems approaches to disease, modeling and visualization technologies, and new computational and mathematical tools. An open, modular architectural framework for tools, models and services needs to be provided to design and develop hypermodels This includes: • to share and handle efficiently the enormous personalized data sets • to ensure that policies for privacy, non-discrimination, and access to data, services, tools and models are implemented to maximize data protection and data security • to enable standardization and semantic data interoperability • to integrate models from system biology with VPH models • to guarantee that tools, services and models are clinically driven and do enhance decision support • to provide tools for large-scale, privacy-preserving data mining, and literature mining • to enhance patient empowerment In addition all tools and models need to be evaluated and validated by end-users. Feedback loops to developers for continuous improvements have to be integrated. Such an innovative architecture should promote the principle of open source. All tools, models and services have to be tested in concrete advanced clinical research projects and clinical trials that target urgent topics of the medical research community. Maintenance and further developments of the framework need to be addressed. To sustain such a self-supporting infrastructure realistic use cases have to offer tangible results for end-users in their daily practice. Teaching and educational programs for end-users have to be implemented to facilitate the access to the platform and the use of tools, models and services.

Biography:

Annick Beaugrand is a Pediatric Professor of Federal University of RN, Brazil since May, 2015 and a Pediatric oncologist at LIGA Norte-Riograndense contra o Cancer, Natal, Brazil since June, 2014, Pediatric oncologist and Clinical research at Santa Marcelina Hospital- TUCCA, São Paulo, Brazil since July 2011. He was a Pediatric oncologist and clinical and translational research at Gustave Roussy Institut, Villejuif, France from April, 2008 to June, 2011. He was a Fellow Specializing in Pediatric Hematology & Oncology at Federal University of Paraná, Brazil from January 2006 to March 2008.

Abstract:

Childhood cancer is a success story of modern medicine in which effective treatments have been identified for previously untreatable diseases. Treatment toxicity continues to be substantial despite advances in supportive care while survival rates have improved, cures for many with high risk and metastatic disease are not achievable despite aggressive surgical, chemotherapeutic and radiotherapy combination. The cure rates in pediatric oncology have been improved due to standardized treatment strategies and centralization of therapy. Much progress has been made using chemotherapeutic agents and treatment modalities introduced decades ago with refinement to improve disease-free survival. Better understanding of treatment-related toxicity has guided the design of less-toxic therapies. Elucidation of the principles of tumor biology and the development of novel laboratory technologies have led to significant progress, as bringing immunotherapies to the bedside. Understanding the molecular basis is changing the landscape of molecular genetics and genomic testing that may be used to identify risk factors, although the clinical utility of such testing is unclear. Molecular sub-typing is instrumental towards selection of model systems for fundamental research in tumor pathogenesis (as new medulloblastoma disease classification) and clinical patient assessment and can also be used to identify variants that influence drug metabolism or interaction of a drug with its cellular target, allowing customization of choice of drug and dosage. There has been significant progress in the clinical development of monoclonal antibodies as cancer therapies with promising results emerging from pediatric studies. Dramatic progress in scientific discovery and technology has led to rapid development and translation of therapies for the clinic. The challenge to the field of pediatric oncology is to develop biologic based approaches that enhance the benefits of standard therapies, lessen toxicity and extend the gains in survival to those high-risk groups that have not benefited from standard treatment.

Biography:

Dr. Janak Kishore graduated in medicine did M.D. (Microbiology) in 1985. Currently he is Professor & Chief of Serology, Clinical & Molecular Virology, Department of Microbiology. He was Associate Editor of Indian J Virol, elected member National Academy Medical Sciences, member of American Societies, and got JICA fellowship, Japan. Dr Kishore taught for 34 yrs, published 51 papers. Dr Kishore did pioneer work on human parvovirus B19 with three novel clinical associations besides reporting “Oncolytic” property of B19 which fetched awards. He was reviewer for international journals, chaired sessions, invited speaker at international conferences (USA, Canada, Japan, U.K. China)

Abstract:

Fifth disease or Erythema infectiosum (EI) in children was known prior to its discovery of B19 in 1974 (reviewed in Kishore J, Kapoor A; 2000) but only after 7 yrs later disease causation by B19 were first recognized as TAC (1981) then arthropathy (1983) & non-immune hydrops fetalis (1987). Since then clinical spectrum of B19 infections were found increasingly hence we developed diagnostic tools for B19 (ELISA, PCR) and determined its seroprevalence (39.9%) in 1000 blood-donors (Kishore J et al; 2005, 2010). We reported novel, unique cases of pure acquired amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia in a 9 mo male (Kishore J et al; 2005) and another case of myositis in 9 yr female as a complication of EI (Kishore J et al; 2006) supported later by other investigators. Again cases of thrombocytopenia and anaemia in a child with fulminant hepatitis due to B19 infection (Kishore J et al; 2009) and a fatal case of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis induced by B19 and EBV in a 2 mo male infant were reported (Kishore J et al; 2014). Major studies included juvenile rheumatoid arthropathy (fulfilling ARA criteria) in 82 children and B19 infection was found in 27 % (Kishore J et al; 1998). Foetal wastage in recurrent aborters and in high risk pregnant women (n=60) revealed high proportions with B19 infection (Kishore J et al; 2011, 2006). Multi-transfused beta-thalassemia major (n=92) children (mean age 8 yrs) had high frequency of anti-B19 IgM (41.1%) antibodies (Kishore Jet al; 2011). In 29 paediatric leukaemia (mostly ALL) we reported (Kishore J et al; 2011) prolonged induction therapy, persistent anaemia while mortality was 17% in B19 infected group but nil in un-infected group indicating B19 may be naturally Oncolytic (Kishore J; 2014) further prolonged remission in a child with CLL and another with CML (co-author Kishore J; 2015) ratified our clinical observations. Now several reports on paediatric B19 infections have cumulated to signify big role of B19 virus but unfortunately B19 infections are largely ignored.

Biography:

Abdulqader Al-Hebshi has completed his Jordanian and Arab Board in general Pediatrics in 2010 then he did a Clinical Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology Oncology for three years from King Hussein Cancer Centre in Jordan after that he joined The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto to do one Year Clinical Fellowship 2014-2015, Currently he is a consultant of Hematology & Oncology and the clinical supervisor of medical interns at Prince Mohammed Bin Abdul Aziz Hospital- National Guard Hospital Affair in Saudia Arabia. He is an active member in ASPHO American Society of Hematology & Oncology.

Abstract:

Association of osteosarcoma with certain syndromes is well known, but the incidence varies from one report to another, and from one syndrome to another, Ruthmond syndrome is the most common syndrome reported to be associated while others like Blackfan Diamond anemia and Osteogenesis imperfect are very rarely associated, and others like Osteopoikelosis are never reported to be associated with Osteosarcoma. Retrospectively we reviewed files of all patients diagnosed to have osteosarcoma during the period from January 2003 till December 2011, information regarding presence of syndromatic features, current condition of the patient whether alive or death or lost and whether had localized or metastatic disease at diagnosis were recorded.

Biography:

Dr Nahla Mobark is pediatric oncologist in Pediatric Hematology & Oncology Department in Cancer Center King Fahad Medical City KFMC, Riyadh Saudi Arabia which is huge tertiary hospital in with around 1000 bed capacity. She had MBBS from KASER-ELAINI Medical College Cairo University, then pediatric residency in Children hospital king Saud medical complex KSMC Ministry of Health (MOH) of Saudi Arabia ,she had membership of Royal College Of Pediatric & Child Health, UK MRCPCH, and then pediatric hematology oncology fellowship program with training in bone marrow transplant. She had got a big experience in diagnosing &management of pediatric patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumours also benign hematology cases i.e .SCA, thalassemia etc. Dr Nahla have been involved with teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students and nurses throughout her career.

Abstract:

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is an aggressive malignant disease in children and adolescents. Although it is the fourth most common malignancy in Saudi children as reported in Saudi cancer registry, less information is available about pediatric Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and its outcome in Saudi Arabia. Study Objectives: To provide demographic data, disease characteristics, treatment protocol, toxicity and outcome of treatment in children & adolescents with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma treated at KFMC. This study will form base line for future studies about pediatric Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in KFMC, which may help to improve outcome for children with cancer in Saudi Arabia. Study Patients and Method: We retrospectively analyzed 28 children and adolescents diagnosed to have Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at KFMC between December 2006 and December 2013, followed-up through June 2014. Results: Of the 28 patients, 10 (35.7%) girls and 18 (64.3%) boys, the male-to-female ratio was 1.8; 1. The median age at time of diagnosis was 6.4 years old (range 2.0 to 13.0 years old). The majority of patients (64.3%) were aged between 5 and 12 years old. Burkitt’s lymphoma BL/BLL was the most common pathological subtype (60.7%), and DLBCL was the second most common subtype (21.4%). Abdominal and Retroperitoneal involvement was the most common primary site (78.6%) including the ileocaecal region. Most of the children presented with advanced Stage III and IV (75%), Cytogenetic study which screens specifically for the t (8; 14) (q24; q32) a characteristic genetic feature of Burkitt’s Lymphoma was obtained from 21 patients, variant rearrangement was observed in 3/21 samples and complex chromosomes karyotype in addition to IGH/MYC rearrangement was observed in 2/21 samples

Biography:

Imke H. Bartelink completed her PharmD and PhD in clinical pharmacology in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation from the Utrecht Medical Center in Utrecht, The Netherlands and postdoctoral studies in integrative pharmacology from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Currently, Dr. Bartelink is in the Clinical Pharmacology Fellowship at UCSF at the Early Phase Clinical Trials Unit. She published more than 20 papers in high impact peer reviewed journals in the areas of pediatric dosing guidelines, pediatric pharmacokinetic-outcome associations and biomarkers of response.

Abstract:

The dose of drugs in pediatrics is routinely calculated in an empirical manner using information from adult-studies with either body surface area (BSA), bodyweight based dosing or allometric scaling, even though most developmental changes in the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) are non-linear dynamic processes. The design of dosing regimens for the treatment of solid tumors in children is further complicated by the interplay between the tumor and the tumor environment. Historically, understanding such concentration-outcome relationships in children has been a challenge, due to limitations on blood volumes, invasive tumor biopsies, ethical considerations, bioanalytical sensitivity and PK modeling methodologies. However, our studies with busulfan, carboplatin and veliparib are an example that these barriers can be overcome.

Biography:

Herman Suit was born on February 8, 1929 in Houston Texas and educated in the Houston public schools and the University of Houston obtaining a B. Sc in August 1948. He graduated from Baylor Medical School [AOA] in 1952, MD and M.Sc [biochemistry]. In 1970, Suit was brought to MGH as Chief of Radiation Oncology and a Professor at Harvard Medical School. After 30 years, Suit was exceedingly pleased to transfer the Chief’s position to Jay S Loeffler on October 1, 2000 and to observe his clear success.

Abstract:

There are many data that support the concept of drug resistant stem cell populations. Stem cells as a sub-population of radiation resistant tumor cells are almost generally accepted as a component of human tumors. This has conceptually been extended to the concept that the stem cell population is radiation resistant and is the basis for local regrowth of tumors treated by radiation with intent to cure. There have been no quantitation of: 1] the fraction of tumor cells that are members of this stem cell population; 2] radiation sensitivity of these resistant cells relative to the other tumor cells and 3] micro enviornment of these stem cells. There has not been generated experimental data that supports the concept of a small radiation resistant population of stem cells. In fact, the published data encountered have yielded the opposite of. For example, two experiments, performed in laboratories in different countries, have reported that the TCD50 values [dose to inactivate half of the irradiated tumors] were significantly less for transplants of the recurrent tumors than for the previously unirradiated tumors. Further radiation cell survival curves for numerous mammalian cell lines studied in vitro by measuring survival fraction vs dose for survival fraction of 10-[2-4] provided no evidence of a resistant sub-population. One current paper, found that decreasing the number of endothelial cells in tumors did not alter tumor response. These findings and others will be considered.

Biography:

Xudong Miao has completed his PhD at the age of 31 years from Zhejiang University School of Medicine. He is the director of the Department of Orthopedic Oncologen & Ankle Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University. He has published 20 papers in peer reviewed journals and has been serving as an princepal invesitigator of 3 .Orthopedic Oncologen Research Project

Abstract:

Our previous studies suggest that nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) is a novel minimal invasive and non-thermal ablation method that can induce apoptosis in.osteosarcoma MG-63 cells in vitro. The current study investigates the local and systemic antitumor efficacy of nsPEF on osteosarcoma in vivo with micro metastasis. Osteosarcomas were treated by nsPEF with puncture electrode at 40 Kv/cm electric field strength of 500 pulses. The survival time, tumor volume, serum alkaline phosphatase, joint capsule and lung metastasis were followed up to 6 months post nsPEF treatment. The efficacy was compared with no-treatment control and amputation surgery. nsPEF reduced tumor volume compared to the control group (P<0.05), it also inhibit serum alkaline phosphatase and lung metastasis, prolonged the survival time without joint deformity or capsule rupture. nsPEF cannot eradicate the tumor as amputation surgery (P<0.05), but the complication and hospitalization time were lower. Local nsPEF ablation was found to be effective in achieving longer survival and less lung metastasis without chemotherapy, radiotherapy or biological therapy. As a non-thermal ablation method, nsPEF has potential to treat osteosarcoma as a palliative therapy for osteosarcoma patients who constricted for surgery.

Biography:

Dr. Soad K. Al Jaouni is a Professor & Consultant of Hematology and Professor/Consultant of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Senior Researcher at Hematology Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) a tertiary care medical center, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract:

Previously examined the potential of conventional Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in an attempt to detect specific biomarkers for discrimination between disease free and acute leukemia bone marrow samples. AIM: To assess the efficacy in detecting minimal residual disease in acute leukemia by FTIR.
Case report, to predict early relapse, and distinguish disease free in remission (control) bone marrow samples, four bone marrow samples were obtained from an 11-year-old boy diagnosed as acute leukemia. Samples (1) and (2) for the patient in remission as diagnosed clinically and laboratory examination free, sample (3) diagnosed relapse in CNS, while sample (4) was taken post-chemotherapy induction.

Biography:

Dr.Divya SubburajCurrently doing FNB( Fellowship under the national board) in pediatric hematology and oncology at Apollo hospital,Chennai from feb 2015. She Completed her undergraduation in 2009 from Bangalore medical college and research institute. She have done my specialisation in Pediatrics(M D ) from the above Institute. She Completed MRCPCH part 1 & 2.

Abstract:

A total of fifty four children had received induction chemotherapy consisting of duanorubicin, cytarabine and etoposide as per the UKMRC AML induction protocol were included in the study. Forty seven episodes of febrile neutropenia were recorded. Thirty four percent had culture positive gram negative sepsis. Fifty five percent of the febrile neutropenic episodes were blood culture negative. Enterocolitis was the most common focus of infection in these children.
Over the last 3 years (2012-2015) the incidence of gram negative sepsis had risen to 38% when compared to 24% during the 2003 to 2011 period. Though the mortality rates had remained the same in both groups, the morbidity rates which included duration of hospital stay, need for pediatric intensive care support, the use of colistin due to carbapenam resistant infections and the use of granulocyte transfusions to help tide over the sepsis had dramatically increased.