Genetic Drivers of T-ALL, Crash Injury Data, Inno Fire Award

 

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers' findings alter the approach to diagnosis and treatment for T-ALL, a particularly challenging childhood cancer. A large dataset study identifies the need to improve accuracy in crash injury reporting. The Philadelphia Business Journal recognizes CHOP for its work to advance the field of cell and gene therapy. Read about these research highlights and more in this edition of In The News.

Researchers' Findings Transform Approach to T-ALL Diagnosis and Treatment

Researchers found that approximately 60% of the genetic changes driving T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cancer cells are non-coding changes, fundamentally altering how researchers identify patients with a high risk of relapsing so that they can be treated with newer or alternative medicines.

"These findings offer a strong a roadmap for improving patient outcomes and curing more children and adults with T-ALL," said David Teachey, MD, an attending physician, director of Clinical Research at the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at CHOP and chair of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia disease committee.

Prior studies focused on the part of DNA that encodes proteins, which precluded identifying potential genetic changes in the non-coding region. In this collaborative study from CHOP, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and COG, researchers studied more than 1,300 patients treated on the COG AALL0434 clinical trial and sequenced both the tumor and non-tumor genomes of each patient.

While the researchers previously suspected that non-coding DNA in T-ALL played an important role, this study's findings are the first ever to establish that at a large scale.

They classified T-ALL into 15 subtypes with gene expression and genomic drivers, refined the classification of existing subtypes based on this new information, and noted a link between T-ALL type of gene alterations and outcomes.

The findings appear in Nature. Learn more in this CHOP news release.

Improved Accuracy in Crash-Reported Child Passenger Injuries Could Better Inform Safety Resources

Emma Sartin, PhD, MPH, CPST

Researchers in the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) for the first time specifically compared crash- and hospital-reported injuries among child passengers involved in crashes. They found incongruencies in reporting of injury frequency, severity, and location for crash-involved passengers less than 13 years old.

"This could misrepresent our understanding of how many children are injured in crashes, as well as the types of injuries they may experience," said first author Emma Sartin, PhD, MPH, CPST, research scientist at CIRP. "Since this information is often used to allocate funding for traffic safety efforts and programs, its inaccuracy can also lead to funding being misdirected away from the communities that may need it most."

Investigators evaluated data from the New Jersey Safety and Health Outcomes (NJ-SHO) Data Warehouse of 84,060 crash-involved child passengers from 2017 through 2019. The researchers found that crash reports documented 7,858 (9%) children with at least "possible" injuries; however, only 2,577 (3%) of all the crash-involved child passengers had at least one documented injury in hospital reports. Crash and hospital data were incongruent for both body region of injury and injury severity. In addition, their dataset showed the proportion of injured children increased with age and as children restraint systems progressed from rear-facing car seats to seat belts.

Rachel K. Myers, PhD, MS, senior study author and associate director at CIRP, noted the study team's findings demonstrate the importance of large dataset access to public health efforts.

Their findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Learn more in this CHOP news release.

CHOP Receives 2024 Inno Fire Award for Cell and Gene Therapy

Philadelphia Business Journal (PBJ) selected CHOP as a recipient of their third annual Inno Fire Awards. The award honors organizations and people dedicated to driving innovation on the cutting edge of technology, artificial intelligence, and life sciences in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Votes from the public and PBJ editors helped nominate CHOP for the award, in recognition of its work to advance the field of cell and gene therapy.

Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer Susan Furth, MD, PhD, attended the award ceremony Aug. 15, 2024, along with Senior Vice President of External Affairs Peter Grollman, Clinical Vector Core Director Johannes van der Loo, PhD, and Frontiers Programs and Cell and Gene Therapy Senior Director Katherine Helbig, MDS, LCGC.

A total of 15 companies and individuals, from quickly growing startups to innovative investors, were honored with Fire Awards for "setting Philadelphia's tech ecosystem ablaze," according to the PBJ event page.

Dr. Kristy Arbogast Champions Well-being for Children and Peers

Kristy Arbogast, PhD, CIRP scientific director, was featured in the Aug. 15 episode of the Breaking Through podcast, focused on New Frontiers in Injury Prevention.

She spoke with CHOP President and Chief Executive Officer Madeline Bell about keeping children safe during fall sports season and CIRP's research into novel prevention and treatment options for concussions. Trained as a bioengineer, Dr. Arbogast discussed the unique perspective she brings to solving problems important to children's health, as well as her role on the NFL Engineering Committee to develop injury prevention programs for elite athletes.

Additionally, Dr. Arbogast was elected to the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (CAFR) at University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine for the coming academic year. CAFR is part of the Medical Faculty Senate at Penn, a platform for medical school faculty to have input into policies, procedures, curriculum, and faculty well-being. Dr. Arbogast, who is a professor of Pediatrics at Penn, will serve as a liaison between the Department of Pediatrics and the committee.

Listen to Dr. Arbogast on the Breaking Through podcast.

ICYMI

Catch up on our headlines from our Aug. 16 In The News:

• Potential New Targets Identified for Chemotherapy-resistant Neuroblastoma
• Two CHOP Fellows Join Pediatric Scientist Development Program Cohort
• AI-powered Strategy Could Offer Earlier Diagnosis, Treatment of Genetic Epilepsies
• Washington Post Highlights Undiagnosed Disease Program
• CHOP Researchers Receive 2024 Blood Cancer Discovery Award
• PolicyLab Launches 4th Annual Impact Report

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