The Pediatric Oncology Program at Emory University is the only comprehensive children's cancer center in Georgia and one of the largest of its kind in the Southeast. It serves a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse population from metropolitan Atlanta, the State of Georgia, and other states including Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Florida, and Mississippi. Since the inception of the Pediatric Oncology Group (POG), Emory is consistently one of the largest single-institution contributors to POG clinical and laboratory studies. Emory is a center for Phase I and pilot POG trials and has initiated numerous protocols that have subsequently been implemented by POG.
The specific aims of the Emory POG Program are: l) to continue as a major source of patients for POG-sponsored Phase I, pilot, groupwide, and intergroup studies; 2) to provide leadership by its investigators as POG Study Coordinators, Co- coordinators, and Core Committee members; 3) to develop innovative institutional clinical trials on which to base future POG investigations; and 4) to maintain strong basic and translational research programs in pediatric oncology. To address these aims, Emory investigators are Coordinators for several major POG studies, including standard-risk new ALL (#9405), high-risk new ALL (#9006), salvage chemotherapy in relapsed neuroblastoma (#9140), and chemotherapy vs. autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) in AML (#8821). Emory POG members actively participate in POG Core Committees, Subcommittees, and new protocol development. Institutional pilot studies include therapy of relapsed AML with idarubicin and chlordeoxyadenosine, treatment of relapsed solid tumors with high-dose busulfan/melphalan and ABMT, transplantation of haploidentical CD34+ cells for relapsed ALL or AML, and vincristine plus dose-escalated cyclophosphamide and infusions of peripheral blood-derived progenitor cells in refractory solid tumors. Complementary laboratory research activities include molecular biology of ALL (mechanisms of IL-6- mediated autocrine growth and aberrations in tumor-suppressor genes); in vitro sensitivity of leukemia cells to antineoplastic agents mid biological response modifiers; mechanisms of resistance of AML cells to alkylating agents; molecular neuro-oncology; and xenogeneic models to evaluate normal and neoplastic human hematopoiesis. Investigators at Emory are participating in the POG laboratory study of methotrexate metabolism by ALL cells (ALinC #16) and coordinate the study of alterations in p53 tumor-suppressor gene pathways in relapsed ALL (SIMAL #l0). Taken together, these activities of the Emory POG Program will continue to contribute to our knowledge of the biology, therapy, and prevention of neoplastic diseases in infancy, childhood and adolescence.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Cooperative Clinical Research--Cooperative Agreements (U10)
Project #
5U10CA020549-26
Application #
6489018
Study Section
Cancer Clinical Investigation Review Committee (CCI)
Program Officer
Smith, Malcolm M
Project Start
1978-01-01
Project End
2003-03-31
Budget Start
2002-01-18
Budget End
2003-03-31
Support Year
26
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$90,884
Indirect Cost
Name
Emory University
Department
Pediatrics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
042250712
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30322
Wacker, Pierre; Land, Vita J; Camitta, Bruce M et al. (2007) Allergic reactions to E. coli L-asparaginase do not affect outcome in childhood B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a Children's Oncology Group Study. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 29:627-32
Ravindranath, Y; Chang, M; Steuber, C P et al. (2005) Pediatric Oncology Group (POG) studies of acute myeloid leukemia (AML): a review of four consecutive childhood AML trials conducted between 1981 and 2000. Leukemia 19:2101-16
Adamkiewicz, T V; Mehta, P S; Boyer, M W et al. (2004) Transplantation of unrelated placental blood cells in children with high-risk sickle cell disease. Bone Marrow Transplant 34:405-11
Seitzman, Robin L; Glover, Dorie A; Meadows, Anna T et al. (2004) Self-concept in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a cooperative Children's Cancer Group and National Institutes of Health study. Pediatr Blood Cancer 42:230-40
Shamberger, Robert C; LaQuaglia, Michael P; Gebhardt, Mark C et al. (2003) Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the chest wall: impact of initial versus delayed resection on tumor margins, survival, and use of radiation therapy. Ann Surg 238:563-7; discussion 567-8
Goorin, Allen M; Schwartzentruber, Douglas J; Devidas, Meenakshi et al. (2003) Presurgical chemotherapy compared with immediate surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy for nonmetastatic osteosarcoma: Pediatric Oncology Group Study POG-8651. J Clin Oncol 21:1574-80
Laver, Joseph H; Mahmoud, Hazem; Pick, Terry E et al. (2002) Results of a randomized phase III trial in children and adolescents with advanced stage diffuse large cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a Pediatric Oncology Group study. Leuk Lymphoma 43:105-9
Lauer, S J; Shuster, J J; Mahoney Jr, D H et al. (2001) A comparison of early intensive methotrexate/mercaptopurine with early intensive alternating combination chemotherapy for high-risk B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a Pediatric Oncology Group phase III randomized trial. Leukemia 15:1038-45
Saylors 3rd, R L; Stine, K C; Sullivan, J et al. (2001) Cyclophosphamide plus topotecan in children with recurrent or refractory solid tumors: a Pediatric Oncology Group phase II study. J Clin Oncol 19:3463-9
Hu, J; Schuster, A E; Fritsch, M K et al. (2001) Deletion mapping of 6q21-26 and frequency of 1p36 deletion in childhood endodermal sinus tumors by microsatellite analysis. Oncogene 20:8042-4

Showing the most recent 10 out of 67 publications