Since 1979, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has actively participated in the ongoing clinical and basic research studies of the Pediatric Oncology Group (POG). UAB has provided leadership in POG through participation in Phase II and III therapeutic trials employing multi-modality treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy), through participation in and designing of biological studies in a variety of hematopoietic and solid malignancies, through the development and coordination of therapeutic trials, and by providing disease committee and administrative leadership within the Group. Investigators at UAB have also participated in pilot studies used to generate front-line therapeutic trials in POG. A summary of current results of POG trials and the POG bibliography are available in the Progress Report. UAB will continue to place all eligible patients on active therapeutic and biological studies. Furthermore, UAB investigators will develop studies for the treatment of relapsing and newly diagnosed high risk neuroblastoma, for using 13-cis retinoic acid in juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia (JCML), for the biological assessment and clinical management of children with primitive neuro-ectodermal tumor (PNET), for evaluating the use of cytokines in therapeutic trials, and for standardizing the management of children with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and fever. UAB has also applied to become a member of the phase I working group of POG and as such to participate in POG phase I trials. In collaboration with investigators at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, UAB will investigate new drugs which are potential candidates for group-wide studies. UAB will continue to provide reference/research laboratories for POG in the following areas: 1) Cytogenetic assessment of newly diagnosed patients with lymphoid and myeloid leukemias; 2) A required neuroblastoma serum/plasma repository '(POG #9047) with clinical and demographic data referenced in a computer data base; 3) A required reference laboratory (POG #8823/24) for children with adult and juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia; 4) A non-mandatory reference laboratory for the study of microtubular associated proteins (MAPs) and tubulin isotypes in neuroblastoma.
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