Researchers Find a New Hazardous Cancer Subtype
Pediatric cancers are heartbreaking, but
they do occur, which means that doctors must search for better ways to
treat them and save kids’ lives. In a recently published research
article, scientists from Texas found a new type of liver cancer that
affects children and may require a change in diagnosing and treating
childhood liver cancer. The research appears in the May 2022 issue of
the Journal of Hepatology.
What many people don’t realize is that the
kinds of cancers that develop in kids and adults are often not the same.
According to Cancer.org, pediatric cancers are rarely caused by
lifestyle, inherited genetic mutations, and environmental risk factors
compared to adult cancers. Childhood cancers also respond better to
treatments - generally speaking.
Liver cancer is rather rare in children and teens, and when it does
occur, the two main forms are:
Hepatoblastoma (HB) - is more common in kids 3-years-old or younger
and rarely spreads outside the liver.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) - affects teens aged 14 and older and
can spread to other parts of the body.
The symptoms of liver cancer can be easily confused with other
conditions, so see medical diagnosis if a child experiences any of the
following symptoms:
A painless lump in the belly
Pain or swelling in the abdomen
Reduced appetite and weight loss
Nausea or vomiting
Early puberty (in boys).
Both hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma typically require
surgery. And in many cases, surgery is combined with chemotherapy before
the surgery to shrink the tumor prior to removal. However, doctors have
noticed that some liver tumors respond much less to chemotherapy and
come with worse outcomes in general.
This spurred researchers from the Texas
Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center and Baylor College of Medicine
to suggest that there might be a third common type of childhood liver
tumor. Indeed, they found that some of the liver tumors found in kids do
not look like either hepatoblastoma or hepatocellular carcinoma.
Closely examining the tissue structure and genetic makeup of this other
type of liver tumor revealed that they were looking at a new hybrid type
of pediatric liver cancer.
Having analyzed the genetic characteristics of this new type of tumor,
the researchers found molecular components found in both HB and HCC.
This made them classify this new type of tumor as a hepatoblastoma with
hepatocellular carcinoma features (HBC).
Telling apart HBC tumors from other
pediatric liver tumors is crucial, as they tend to respond less to
standard chemotherapy and require more aggressive surgery, including
liver transplantation. As Prof. Dolores López-Terrada, one of the
study's authors, suggested to Scitech Daily, “Our findings highlight the
importance of molecular testing to accurately classify these tumors to
optimize treatment recommendations at the time of initial diagnosis.”
In the article, the researchers explain how to diagnose HBCs and adjust
the cancer treatment. Without a doubt, this discovery will help save
countless children’s lives. The discovery also opens the door for
analyzing many other difficult-to-treat cancers on a molecular level.