Recent advances in molecular diagnostics - notably high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing - have improved pediatric cancer outcomes, and enabled ever more precise subtyping and identification of prognostic and targetable biomarkers. However, globally, there remains a huge gap in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cancers between higher- and lower-resource countries leading to dramatically worse outcomes in low-resource settings. Precision molecular diagnostics has the potential as a “one-stop shop” for cancer diagnosis and genomic subtyping, avoiding traditionally expensive and expertise-intensive diagnostic steps including flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and cytogenetics.
The development, validation, and implementation of molecular diagnostic technologies suitable for diverse global healthcare settings could substantively narrow the gap in pediatric cancer. These diagnostic tools need to be resource-appropriate to achieve real improvement in pediatric cancer outcomes given the level of personnel expertise, infrastructure, and financial resources in global healthcare settings. Achieving these goals will require the development of resource-appropriate molecular diagnostic technologies and markers, validation of existing molecular diagnostics in diverse global settings, and special attention to implementation barriers as these approaches are translated to clinical settings.
Contributions are encouraged from clinicians, pathologists, and basic and translational scientists interested in molecular diagnostics in pediatric cancer, particularly with demonstrable relevance to global healthcare settings. Descriptions of novel molecular diagnostic tools, validation of existing technologies, and implementation studies in under-served global settings are welcome.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Recent advances in molecular diagnostics - notably high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing - have improved pediatric cancer outcomes, and enabled ever more precise subtyping and identification of prognostic and targetable biomarkers. However, globally, there remains a huge gap in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cancers between higher- and lower-resource countries leading to dramatically worse outcomes in low-resource settings. Precision molecular diagnostics has the potential as a “one-stop shop” for cancer diagnosis and genomic subtyping, avoiding traditionally expensive and expertise-intensive diagnostic steps including flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and cytogenetics.
The development, validation, and implementation of molecular diagnostic technologies suitable for diverse global healthcare settings could substantively narrow the gap in pediatric cancer. These diagnostic tools need to be resource-appropriate to achieve real improvement in pediatric cancer outcomes given the level of personnel expertise, infrastructure, and financial resources in global healthcare settings. Achieving these goals will require the development of resource-appropriate molecular diagnostic technologies and markers, validation of existing molecular diagnostics in diverse global settings, and special attention to implementation barriers as these approaches are translated to clinical settings.
Contributions are encouraged from clinicians, pathologists, and basic and translational scientists interested in molecular diagnostics in pediatric cancer, particularly with demonstrable relevance to global healthcare settings. Descriptions of novel molecular diagnostic tools, validation of existing technologies, and implementation studies in under-served global settings are welcome.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
