Progress

Every advancement in curing childhood cancer has come through research. CureSearch Children’s Oncology Group is considered the premier childhood cancer research organization in the world. It has treated more children with cancer than any other organization in history and has been responsible for many of the improvements in the treatment and cure rates of childhood cancers.

Since the 1950s, cooperative research has improved the survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 10% to over 77% overall. (Cure rates vary according to each specific type of childhood cancer.)

Pediatric cancer research has also paid dividends in:

• Understanding the basic biology of cancer,
• Treating adults with cancer, and
• Providing principles of therapy and advances for other diseases of children and adults.

For example:

• Chemotherapy was first shown to be effective in curing children with cancer.
• The discovery of the first tumor suppressor gene occurred in children with cancer.
• The principle of multi-modal therapy was pioneered in childhood cancer.

Following are some of the major advances made by The COG and its legacy research groups over the past 10 years:

• Decreased childhood cancer mortality by 25%.
• Improved survival of acute lymphoblastic leukemia from 70% to 80%.
• Improved survival of acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia from 35% to 50%.
• Improved survival of the most common form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma from 70% to 90%.
• Improved survival of widespread childhood neuroblastoma from 10% to 45%.
• Reduced by 50% or more the need for radiation therapy for the following groups of patients, thereby reducing risks of long-term effects of radiotherapy:

• acute lymphoblastic leukemia,
• infants under 3 years of age with brain tumors, and
• adolescent females with Hodgkins disease.

• Established efficacy of 8 new anti-cancer agents and combinations of such agents for the first time in pediatric cancers.
• Shortened the treatment time for the most common form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and all forms of childhood acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia by 30%-50%.
• Successfully evaluated several agents that reduce the side effects of pediatric cancer treatment (i.e. G-CSF, Dexrazoxane).
• Published recommendations for long-term follow-up care for all cancers of children and adolescents.
• Established the first broad effort to develop and evaluate treatments for cancers common to adolescents and young adults, and demonstrated the superiority of pediatric treatment protocols over adult treatment protocols for several cancers of young adults.