In the last few years, immunotherapy has certainly revolutionized oncology. The introduction of immunotherapeutic strategies alone or in combination with other agents has shown great promise in adult tumors, particularly in those called “hot tumors”. Brain and spinal cord tumors, leukemias, and sarcomas (including rhabdomyosarcomas, osteosarcomas, and Ewing sarcoma) represent the most common tumors in children and adolescents and young adults (AYA). Nonetheless, despite being rare, children/AYA can also develop other tumor types. Some cancers have shown a great impact on survival, nonetheless, efforts are still being put in place to improve long-term survival and the quality of life of these children. Patients with rare tumors are often presented with no effective therapeutic regimens and go through painful and disappointing invasive cycles of treatments with scarce quality of life and a strong impact on growth. The incorporation of novel therapies in these tumors is highly needed, and some immunotherapeutic strategies are in fact showing major improvements in this sense. Tumors such as certain types of sarcomas have been described as “cold tumors”, and at baseline showed no expectable response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Nonetheless, strategies to promote immunological infiltration and inflammation in these tumors have shown very promising results.
In this issue, we aim to describe and raise discussion regarding the use of immunotherapeutic strategies toward pediatric tumors. Our goal is to evaluate the potential, problems, and limitations of the use of these new therapies in children.
We encourage the submission of Original Research articles, Perspectives, Reviews, and Mini-Reviews covering, but not limited to, the following subtopics:
1) Characterization of the immunological landscape of pediatric solid tumors;
2) Clinical and pre-clinical development of CAR-T cells toward pediatric tumors;
3) Chemical and pre-clinical evaluation of antibody-drug conjugates toward pediatric tumors;
4) Generation of new immunocompetent mice models mimicking pediatric solid tumors;
5) Definition of new epigenetic strategies to enhance immune infiltration in solid tumors.
Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this topic.
In the last few years, immunotherapy has certainly revolutionized oncology. The introduction of immunotherapeutic strategies alone or in combination with other agents has shown great promise in adult tumors, particularly in those called “hot tumors”. Brain and spinal cord tumors, leukemias, and sarcomas (including rhabdomyosarcomas, osteosarcomas, and Ewing sarcoma) represent the most common tumors in children and adolescents and young adults (AYA). Nonetheless, despite being rare, children/AYA can also develop other tumor types. Some cancers have shown a great impact on survival, nonetheless, efforts are still being put in place to improve long-term survival and the quality of life of these children. Patients with rare tumors are often presented with no effective therapeutic regimens and go through painful and disappointing invasive cycles of treatments with scarce quality of life and a strong impact on growth. The incorporation of novel therapies in these tumors is highly needed, and some immunotherapeutic strategies are in fact showing major improvements in this sense. Tumors such as certain types of sarcomas have been described as “cold tumors”, and at baseline showed no expectable response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Nonetheless, strategies to promote immunological infiltration and inflammation in these tumors have shown very promising results.
In this issue, we aim to describe and raise discussion regarding the use of immunotherapeutic strategies toward pediatric tumors. Our goal is to evaluate the potential, problems, and limitations of the use of these new therapies in children.
We encourage the submission of Original Research articles, Perspectives, Reviews, and Mini-Reviews covering, but not limited to, the following subtopics:
1) Characterization of the immunological landscape of pediatric solid tumors;
2) Clinical and pre-clinical development of CAR-T cells toward pediatric tumors;
3) Chemical and pre-clinical evaluation of antibody-drug conjugates toward pediatric tumors;
4) Generation of new immunocompetent mice models mimicking pediatric solid tumors;
5) Definition of new epigenetic strategies to enhance immune infiltration in solid tumors.
Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this topic.