The National Wilms Tumor Study Group (NWTS) is a cancer research cooperative group in the United States formed to study a type of kidney tumor that affects children called Wilms' tumor. In 2001, NWTS merged with several other pediatric oncology cooperative groups to create the Children's Oncology Group (COG). However, the NWTS is still active in name today completing follow-up of the late effects of treatment for patients previously enrolled in its trials. The acronym NWTS is pronounced like the word "nitwits".
The NWTS was formed in 1969 [1] by member institutions from Children's Cancer Study Group (CCG), Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), and CALGB, the latter two which later merged to form the Pediatric Oncology Group (POG). The NWTS was created with the purpose of improving survival of children with Wilms' tumor. NWTS studies were conducted at over 250 pediatric oncology treatment centers in the United States, Canada, and other countries. Approximately 70-80% of patients with Wilms' tumor were enrolled on NWTS treatment protocols, totalling 440 patients per year.
NWTS ran five clinical trials, designated NWTS-1 to NWTS-5. The first four were randomized trials, whereas NWTS-5 was a clinical trial designed to look primarily at biologic prognostic factors and was not randomized. [2] NWTS-5 was completed in 2003. [2]
Wilms' tumor or Wilms tumor, also known as nephroblastoma, is a cancer of the kidneys that typically occurs in children, and occurs most commonly as a renal tumor in child patients. It is named after Max Wilms, the German surgeon (1867–1918) who first described it.
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a highly aggressive form of cancer that develops from mesenchymal cells that have failed to fully differentiate into myocytes of skeletal muscle. Cells of the tumor are identified as rhabdomyoblasts.
Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain, and has a very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality changes, nausea, and symptoms similar to those of a stroke. Symptoms often worsen rapidly and may progress to unconsciousness.
In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that the dose of protons is deposited over a narrow range of depth; hence in minimal entry, exit, or scattered radiation dose to healthy nearby tissues.
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue. It most frequently starts from one of the adrenal glands but can also develop in the head, neck, chest, abdomen, or spine. Symptoms may include bone pain, a lump in the abdomen, neck, or chest, or a painless bluish lump under the skin.
A chemotherapy regimen is a regimen for chemotherapy, defining the drugs to be used, their dosage, the frequency and duration of treatments, and other considerations. In modern oncology, many regimens combine several chemotherapy drugs in combination chemotherapy. The majority of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy are cytostatic, many via cytotoxicity.
A blastoma is a type of cancer, more common in children, that is caused by malignancies in precursor cells, often called blasts. Examples are nephroblastoma, medulloblastoma, and retinoblastoma. The suffix -blastoma is used to imply a tumor of primitive, incompletely differentiated cells, e.g., chondroblastoma is composed of cells resembling the precursor of chondrocytes.
The Children's Oncology Group (COG), a clinical trials group supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is the world's largest organization devoted exclusively to pediatric cancer research. The COG conducts a spectrum of clinical research and translational research trials for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer.
The Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group (IRS) was a U.S. and Canadian clinical trial cooperative group created with the mission of studying childhood cancers. In 2000, IRS merged with several other pediatric cooperative groups to form the Children's Oncology Group (COG). This merger has seen its fair share of problems, especially with regard to integrating the various databases associated with each individual cooperative group. One such initiative to consolidate these databases involves caBIG, or cancer BIG, which is guided and supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland. They published a report on cancer treatment protocols published by the National Institute of Health in 2001, and a separate report in 2011 on improving outcomes for patients with low-risk embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.
Medulloblastoma is a common type of primary brain cancer in children. It originates in the part of the brain that is towards the back and the bottom, on the floor of the skull, in the cerebellum, or posterior fossa.
Cancer and Leukemia Group B is a cancer research cooperative group in the United States.
An atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) is a rare tumor usually diagnosed in childhood. Although usually a brain tumor, AT/RT can occur anywhere in the central nervous system (CNS), including the spinal cord. About 60% will be in the posterior cranial fossa. One review estimated 52% in the posterior fossa, 39% are supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (sPNET), 5% are in the pineal, 2% are spinal, and 2% are multifocal.
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (ónkos), meaning "tumor", "volume" or "mass". Oncology is concerned with:
Glembatumumab vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that targets cancer cells expressing transmembrane glycoprotein NMB (GPNMB).
Alternating electric field therapy, sometimes called tumor treating fields (TTFields), is a type of electromagnetic field therapy using low-intensity, intermediate frequency electrical fields to treat cancer. TTFields disrupt cell division by disrupting dipole alignment and inducing dielectrophoresis of critical molecules and organelles during mitosis. These anti-mitotic effects lead to cell death, slowing cancer growth. A TTField-treatment device manufactured by the Israeli company Novocure is approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma, malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), and is undergoing clinical trials for several other tumor types. Despite earning regulatory approval, the efficacy of this technology remains controversial among medical experts.
Childhood cancer is cancer in a child. About 80% of childhood cancer cases in high-income countries can be successfully treated via modern medical treatments and optimal patient care. However, only about 10% of children diagnosed with cancer reside in high-income countries where the necessary treatments and care is available. Childhood cancer represents only about 1% of all types of cancers diagnosed in children and adults, It is often more complex than adult cancers with unique biological characteristics and research and treatment is yet very challenging and limited. For this reason, childhood cancer is often ignored in control planning, contributing to the burden of missed opportunities for its diagnoses and management in countries that are low- and mid-income.
Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) is a technique used to combat the occurrence of metastasis to the brain in highly aggressive cancers that commonly metastasize to brain, most notably small-cell lung cancer. Radiation therapy is commonly used to treat known tumor occurrence in the brain, either with highly precise stereotactic radiation or therapeutic cranial irradiation. By contrast, PCI is intended as preemptive treatment in patients with no known current intracranial tumor, but with high likelihood for harboring occult microscopic disease and eventual occurrence. For small-cell lung cancer with limited and select cases of extensive disease, PCI has shown to reduce recurrence of brain metastases and improve overall survival in complete remission.
PROSTVAC is a cancer immunotherapy candidate in clinical development by Bavarian Nordic for the treatment of all prostate cancer although clinical trials are focusing on more advanced cases of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). PROSTVAC is a vaccine designed to enable the immune system to recognize and attack prostate cancer cells by triggering a specific and targeted T cell immune response to cancer cells that express the tumor-associated antigen prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
Andrea A. Hayes Dixon is an American surgeon. She was the first pediatric surgeon to perform a high-risk, life-saving procedure in children with a rare form of cancer and developed the first orthotropic xenograft model of metastatic Ewing's sarcoma. In 2002, she became the first African American female pediatric surgeon board-certified in the United States.
Patrick J. Loehrer is an American oncologist who is Indiana University Distinguished Professor, Joseph W. and Jackie J. Cusick Professor in Oncology, Professor of medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine; Director emeritus, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.