Background: Neuroblastoma is a highly aggressive pediatric cancer, particularly in children with refractory or relapsed disease, where survival outcomes remain poor despite advancements in treatment. Combining anti-GD2 antibodies, such as dinutixumab beta, dinutixumab, and naxitanab, with conventional chemotherapy has emerged as a promising approach to improve clinical outcomes in this high-risk population. This chemo-immunotherapy regimen meta-analysis aimed to investigate the efficacy of these combination regimens by analyzing objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), and event-free survival (EFS) outcomes across multiple studies. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched, yielding studies comprising the related reports. Both randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies were included. The primary outcome of interest was ORR, and the secondary outcome of interest was EFS. A random-effects model using the DerSimonian–Laird method and Knapp–Hartung–Sidik–Jonkman adjustments was employed to pool effect sizes, and heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics. Results: A total of ten reports from eight studies were deemed eligible and included in the meta-analysis. The pooled ORR across the studies was 0.45 (95% CI: 0.35–0.54, p < 0.001), indicating that approximately 45% of patients showed a favorable treatment response, with moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 52.78%). The pooled analysis showed an OS of 75% (95% CI: 53–96, p < 0.001), and the pooled EFS effect size was 0.59 (95% CI: 0.45–0.73, p < 0.001), despite substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 60.54%). Conclusions: anti-GD2 antibodies combined with conventional chemotherapy may significantly improve response rates and event-free survival in children with refractory or relapsed neuroblastoma. Future research should focus on identifying predictive biomarkers to tailor therapies to individual patients, enhancing both efficacy and safety in this vulnerable population.
Background: Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are the most common benign vascular tumors of infancy. Methods: We report our experiences with 248 patients with head and neck IHs. Results: The median admission age was 4 months, and the female/male ratio was 2.18. Among the cases, 45% were followed by no treatment. No local complications were observed in any of these patients. Propranolol was provided to all patients who received medical treatment. The median duration of treatment was 12 months (1–30 months), and the median follow-up period of all patients was 14 months (0–118 months). The treatment response was 98%. The complication rate was 17%, and children aged between 3 and 9 months accounted for 60% of the patients who developed complications. Most of the complications were local complications, such as ulceration and bleeding. Conclusions: Although most IHs regress spontaneously, complications may occur. Propranolol alone is an effective treatment option, and early treatment initiation increases the success rate.
Objectives: Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood. YAP (Yes‐associated protein) is a highly expressed protein in NB. Nestin is an important marker of neuronal differentiation in NB. Orthodenticle homeobox (OTX) is a transcription factor and is overexpressed in blastoma‐derived tumors. The aim of this study was to examine the potential roles of YAP‐1, Nestin, and OTX‐2 proteins in prognosis and risk stratification in neuroblastomaMethods: Tumor sections of 56 patients with different NB risk groups were analyzed. YAP‐1, Nestin, and OTX‐2 protein expression levels were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining in NB patient tissue samples.Results: YAP‐1, Nestin, and OTX‐2 protein expression levels were evaluated together with the clinical findings of NB patients. YAP‐1 was expressed in 18% of all tissues, while Nestin was expressed in 20.4%. OTX‐2 protein expression was found in 41.1% of the NB patients. YAP‐1 was expressed in 26.9% of high‐risk and 11.5% of low‐risk patients. Nestin was expressed in 24.4% high‐risk and 33.3% low‐risk patients. OTX‐2 was expressed in 68.2% high‐risk and 60% low‐risk patients.YAP‐1 was shown to provide survival advantages among risk groups.Interpretation: The findings of this study support that YAP‐1 may be a potential prognostic biomarker for staging and risk‐group assignment of NB patients. YAP‐1 expression in neuroblastoma is associated with significantly poorer survival probabilities and should be considered as a potential therapeutic target. OTX‐2 is a promising predictive biomarker candidate, but its mechanisms need further investigation in neuroblastoma, as nestin expression is not significantly linked to patient survival.
Background: Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are the most common benign vascular tumors of infancy. Methods: We report our experience of 248 patients with head and neck IHs. Results: The median age on admission was 4 months, and female/male ratio was 2.17. Among the cases, 45% were followed without treatment. No local complications were observed in any of these patients. Propranolol was given to all patients who received medical treatment. The median duration of treatment was 12 months (1-30 months), and the median follow-up period of all patients was 14 months (0-118 months). The treatment response was 98%. Complication rate was 17% and children aged between 3 and 9 months accounted for 60% of patients who developed complications. Most of the complications were local complications such as bleeding, ulcer, and infection. Conclusion: Although most of them regress spontaneously, complications may occur. Propranolol alone is an effective treatment option, and early treatment initiation increases success rates.
9 August 2022 in Sağlık Bilimlerinde İleri Araştırmalar Dergisi / Journal of Advanced Research in Health Sciences