Hernias and Ewing's sarcoma family of tumours: a pooled analysis and meta-analysis

Genetic analyses identify evidence for a causal relationship between Ewing sarcoma and hernias

Knowledge of Ewing sarcoma (EWS) risk factors is exceedingly limited; however, multiple small, independent studies have suggested a possible connection between hernia and EWS. By leveraging hernia summary statistics from the UK Biobank and a recently published genome-wide association study of EWS (733 EWS cases and 1,346 controls), we conducted a genetic investigation of the relationship of 5 hernia types (diaphragmatic, inguinal, umbilical, femoral, and ventral) and EWS. We discovered a positive causal relationship between inguinal hernia and EWS (OR 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.59, and p = 0.041) through Mendelian randomization analysis. Further analyses suggested shared pathways through three genes: HMGA2, LOX, and FBXW7. Diaphragmatic hernia showed a stronger causal relationship with EWS among all of the hernia types (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.30-3.95, p = 0.004), but no statistically significant local correlation pattern was observed. No evidence of a causal or genetic relationship was observed between EWS and the other three hernia types, including umbilical hernia, despite a previous report indicating an OR as high as 3.3. The finding of our genetic analysis provided additional support to the hypothesis that EWS and hernias may share a common origin.

Soft Tissue Ewing Sarcoma Cell Drug Resistance Revisited: A Systems Biology Approach

Ewing sarcoma is a rare type of cancer that develops in the bones and soft tissues. Drug therapy represents an extensively used modality for the treatment of sarcomas. However, cancer cells tend to develop resistance to antineoplastic agents, thereby posing a major barrier in treatment effectiveness. Thus, there is a need to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying chemoresistance in sarcomas and, hence, to enhance the anticancer treatment outcome. In this study, a differential gene expression analysis was conducted on high-throughput transcriptomic data of chemoresistant versus chemoresponsive Ewing sarcoma cells. By applying functional enrichment analysis and protein-protein interactions on the differentially expressed genes and their corresponding products, we uncovered genes with a hub role in drug resistance. Granted that non-coding RNA epigenetic regulators play a pivotal role in chemotherapy by targeting genes associated with drug response, we investigated the non-coding RNA molecules that potentially regulate the expression of the detected chemoresistance genes. Of particular importance, some chemoresistance-relevant genes were associated with the autonomic nervous system, suggesting the involvement of the latter in the drug response. The findings of this study could be taken into consideration in the clinical setting for the accurate assessment of drug response in sarcoma patients and the application of tailored therapeutic strategies.

Increased risk for other cancers in individuals with Ewing sarcoma and their relatives

BACKGROUND

There are few reports of the association of other cancers with Ewing sarcoma in patients and their relatives. We use a resource combining statewide genealogy and cancer reporting to provide unbiased risks.

METHODS

Using a combined genealogy of 2.3 million Utah individuals and the Utah Cancer Registry (UCR), relative risks (RRs) for cancers of other sites were estimated in 143 Ewing sarcoma patients using a Cox proportional hazards model with matched controls; however, risks in relatives were estimated using internal cohort-specific cancer rates in first-, second-, and third-degree relatives.

RESULTS

Cancers of three sites (breast, brain, complex genotype/karyotype sarcoma) were observed in excess in Ewing sarcoma patients. No Ewing sarcoma patients were identified among first-, second-, or third-degree relatives of Ewing sarcoma patients. Significantly increased risk for brain, lung/bronchus, female genital, and prostate cancer was observed in first-degree relatives. Significantly increased risks were observed in second-degree relatives for breast cancer, nonmelanoma eye cancer, malignant peripheral nerve sheath cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and translocation sarcomas. Significantly increased risks for stomach cancer, prostate cancer, and acute lymphocytic leukemia were observed in third-degree relatives.

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis of risk for cancer among Ewing sarcoma patients and their relatives indicates evidence for some increased cancer predisposition in this population which can be used to individualize consideration of potential treatment of patients and screening of patients and relatives.

An overview of disparities in childhood cancer: Report on the Inaugural Symposium on Childhood Cancer Health Disparities, Houston, Texas, 2016

The Inaugural Symposium on Childhood Cancer Health Disparities was held in Houston, Texas, on November 2, 2016. The symposium was attended by 109 scientists and clinicians from diverse disciplinary backgrounds with interests in pediatric cancer disparities and focused on reviewing our current knowledge of disparities in cancer risk and outcomes for select childhood cancers. Following a full day of topical sessions, everyone participated in a brainstorming session to develop a working strategy for the continued expansion of research in this area. This meeting was designed to serve as a springboard for examination of childhood cancer disparities from a more unified and systematic approach and to enhance awareness of this area of need.

Risk of bone tumors in children and residential proximity to industrial and urban areas: New findings from a case-control study

Few epidemiologic studies have explored risk factors for bone tumors in children, and the role of environmental factors needs to be analyzed. Our objective was to ascertain the association between residential proximity to industrial plants and urban areas and risk of bone tumors in children, taking into account industrial groups and toxic pollutants released. A population-based case-control study of childhood bone cancer in Spain was carried out, covering 114 incident cases obtained from the Spanish Registry of Childhood Tumors (between 1996 and 2011), and 684 controls individually matched by sex, year of birth, and autonomous region of residence. Distances from the subject's residences to the 1271 industries and the 30 urban areas (towns) with ≥75,000 inhabitants located in the study area were computed. Unconditional logistic regression models were fitted to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) for categories of distance (from 1km to 3km) to industrial and urban areas, with adjustment for matching variables and sociodemographic indicators. Excess risk (OR; 95%CI) of bone tumors in children was detected for children close to industrial facilities as a whole (2.33; 1.17-4.63 at 3km) - particularly surface treatment of metals (OR=2.50; 95%CI=1.13-5.56 at 2km), production and processing of metals (OR=3.30; 95%CI=1.41-7.77 at 2.5km), urban waste-water treatment plants (OR=4.41; 95%CI=1.62-11.98 at 2km), hazardous waste (OR=4.63; 95%CI=1.37-15.61 at 2km), disposal or recycling of animal waste (OR=4.73; 95%CI=1.40-15.97 at 2km), cement and lime (OR=3.89; 95%CI=1.19-12.77 at 2.5km), and combustion installations (OR=3.85; 95%CI=1.39-10.66 at 3km)-, and urban areas (4.43; 1.80-10.92). These findings support the need for more detailed exposure assessment of certain toxics released by these facilities.

Current state of pediatric sarcoma biology and opportunities for future discovery: A report from the sarcoma translational research workshop

Sarcomas are a rare subgroup of pediatric cancers comprised of a variety of bone and soft-tissue tumors. While significant advances have been made in improving outcomes of patients with localized pediatric sarcomas since the addition of systemic chemotherapy to local control many decades ago, outcomes for patients with metastatic and relapsed sarcoma remain poor with few novel therapeutics identified to date. With the advent of new technologies to study cancer genomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes, our understanding of sarcoma biology has improved tremendously in a relatively short period of time. However, much remains to be accomplished in this arena especially with regard to translating all of this new knowledge to the bedside. To this end, a meeting was convened in Philadelphia, PA, on April 18, 2015 sponsored by the QuadW foundation, Children's Oncology Group and CureSearch for Children's Cancer that brought together sarcoma clinicians and scientists from North America to review the current state of pediatric sarcoma biology and ongoing/planned genomics based clinical trials in an effort to identify and bridge knowledge gaps that continue to exist at present. At the conclusion of the workshop, three key objectives that would significantly further our understanding of sarcoma were identified and a proposal was put forward to develop an all-encompassing pediatric sarcoma biology protocol that would address these specific needs. This review summarizes the proceedings of the workshop.

Incidence, treatment and survival of paediatric patients with bone sarcomas in Finland from 1991 to 2005

AIM

Our aims were to establish the 10-year overall and event-free survival rates among children and adolescents with bone sarcomas in Finland, estimate their respective incidences, evaluate the treatment given and describe the key prognostic factors.

METHODS

We included 88 patients of <18 years of age diagnosed with a bone sarcoma during 1991-2005 in this retrospective, nationwide and population-based study. Median follow-up time was 12.2 years (range 5.8-20.3 years) for surviving patients.

RESULTS

The overall incidence among children and adolescents was 5.1 per million: 3.6 for osteosarcoma, 1.2 for Ewing's sarcoma and 0.3 for chondrosarcoma. The 10-year event-free and overall survival of those with a localised disease at diagnosis was 69% and 82%, respectively. The overall 10-year survival of those with a metastatic disease at diagnosis was 47%. Prognostic factors for localised disease included an axial versus peripheral primary tumour site in Ewing's sarcoma (p = 0.022) and age at diagnosis in osteosarcoma (p = 0.027).

CONCLUSION

The 10-year overall survival of children and adolescents diagnosed with a bone sarcoma in Finland during 1991 to 2005 was very good, at 82% if the disease was localised at diagnosis and 47% if it was metastatic at diagnosis.

Medication Exposures and Subsequent Development of Ewing Sarcoma: A Review of FDA Adverse Event Reports

Background. Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) are rare but deadly cancers of unknown etiology. Few risk factors have been identified. This study was undertaken to ascertain any possible association between exposure to therapeutic drugs and ESFT. Methods. This is a retrospective, descriptive study. A query of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) was conducted for all reports of ESFT, January 1, 1998, through December 31, 2013. Report narratives were individually reviewed for patient characteristics, underlying conditions and drug exposures. Results. Over 16 years, 134 ESFT reports were identified, including 25 cases of ESFT following therapeutic drugs and biologics including immunosuppressive agents and hormones. Many cases were confounded by concomitant medications and other therapies. Conclusions. This study provides a closer look at medication use and underlying disorders in patients who later developed ESFT. While this study was not designed to demonstrate any clear causative association between ESFT and prior use of a single product or drug class, many drugs were used to treat immune-related disease and growth or hormonal disturbances. Further studies may be warranted to better understand possible immune or neuroendocrine abnormalities or exposure to specific classes of drugs that may predispose to the later development of ESFT.

Perinatal characteristics and bone cancer risk in offspring--a Scandinavian population-based study

BACKGROUND

We investigated perinatal factors in relation to bone cancer subtypes, osteosarcoma (OS), Ewing Sarcoma (ES) and chondrosarcoma (CS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All cases in Norway (1970-2009), Sweden (1974-2009) and Denmark (1980-2010)<43 years were included (n=914); 10 controls per case were selected from birth registries (which provided information on pregnancies) matched on birth country, sex and birth year (n=9140). Unconditional logistic regression models including sex and birth year were used to compute relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

Higher maternal education was associated with a 40% increase in OS risk (95% CI 1-93%). The RR for OS was 3.22 (95% CI 1.37-7.59) comparing offspring of hypertensive mothers with those of mothers with a normotensive pregnancy, and Cesarean section was associated with a 29% risk reduction (95% CI 0-50%). When gestational age, birth weight and birth length were assessed simultaneously, there were no associations with any of the bone tumor subtypes.

CONCLUSION

These results provided little evidence of an important role of pregnancy factors in the etiology of bone cancers. Higher maternal education may be associated with factors, possibly early nutrition or other correlates of socioeconomic status, that increase OS risk in offspring. The elevated OS risk associated with gestational hypertension and reduced risk associated with Cesarean section warrant replication.

Children's Oncology Group's 2013 blueprint for research: epidemiology

Investigators worldwide have for over 40 years conducted case-control studies aimed at determining the causes of childhood cancer. The central challenge to conducting such research is the rarity of childhood cancer, thus many studies aggregate cases through clinical trials organizations such as COG. Rarity also precludes the use of prospective study designs, which are less prone to recall and selection biases. Despite these challenges a substantial literature on childhood cancer etiology has emerged but few strong environmental risk factors have been identified. Genetic studies are thus now coming to the fore with some success. The ultimate aim of epidemiologic studies is to reduce the population burden of childhood cancer by suggesting preventive measures or possibly by enabling early detection. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2013; 60: 1059-1062. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The epidemiology of sarcoma

Sarcomas account for over 20% of all pediatric solid malignant cancers and less than 1% of all adult solid malignant cancers. The vast majority of diagnosed sarcomas will be soft tissue sarcomas, while malignant bone tumors make up just over 10% of sarcomas. The risks for sarcoma are not well-understood. We evaluated the existing literature on the epidemiology and etiology of sarcoma. Risks for sarcoma development can be divided into environmental exposures, genetic susceptibility, and an interaction between the two. HIV-positive individuals are at an increased risk for Kaposi's sarcoma, even though HHV8 is the causative virus. Radiation exposure from radiotherapy has been strongly associated with secondary sarcoma development in certain cancer patients. In fact, the risk of malignant bone tumors increases as the cumulative dose of radiation to the bone increases (p for trend <0.001). A recent meta-analysis reported that children with a history of hernias have a greater risk of developing Ewing's sarcoma (adjusted OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.9, 5.7). Bone development during pubertal growth spurts has been associated with osteosarcoma development. Occupational factors such as job type, industry, and exposures to chemicals such as herbicides and chlorophenols have been suggested as risk factors for sarcomas. A case-control study found a significant increase in soft tissue sarcoma risk among gardeners (adjusted OR 4.1, 95% CI 1.00, 14.00), but not among those strictly involved in farming. A European-based study reported an increased risk in bone tumors among blacksmiths, toolmakers, or machine-tool operators (adjusted OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.08, 4.26). Maternal and paternal characteristics such as occupation, age, smoking status, and health conditions experienced during pregnancy also have been suggested as sarcoma risk factors and would be important to assess in future studies. The limited studies we identified demonstrate significant relationships with sarcoma risk, but many of these results now require further validation on larger populations. Furthermore, little is known about the biologic mechanisms behind each epidemiologic association assessed in the literature. Future molecular epidemiology studies may increase our understanding of the genetic versus environmental contributions to tumorigenesis in this often deadly cancer in children and adults.

Complex genotype sarcomas display familial inheritance independent of known cancer predisposition syndromes

BACKGROUND

The low incidence of sarcomas in the general population makes heritable contribution to disease risk difficult to discern beyond highly penetrant Mendelian syndromes.

METHODS

The Utah Cancer Registry (UCR) and Utah Population Database were interrogated for sarcoma diagnostic codes grouped by genetic type, either complex genotype/karyotype sarcoma or balanced translocation-associated sarcoma. The genealogic index of familiality (GIF) was calculated and relative risks (RR) of disease estimated for first-, second-, and third-degree relatives of sarcoma probands. Cancer patterns in pedigrees of sarcoma probands were examined to rule out known hereditary cancer syndromes.

RESULTS

A total of 229 balanced translocation type and 1,161 complex genotype type sarcomas with at least three generations of ancestral genealogy data were identified in the UCR. There was no evidence for excess relatedness for the balanced translocation group by using the GIF test (P = 0.657) and no significantly elevated RRs. In the complex genotype group, we observed significantly elevated GIF (P = 0.03). Modest RRs corroborated the GIF analysis, in which excess relatedness existed in distant relationships. No recognized cancer syndromes were identified among high-risk pedigrees.

DISCUSSION

We identified strong familiality among complex genotype sarcomas, independent from known cancer predisposition syndromes. In the absence of significantly elevated RRs for close relatives, the high GIF argues for a strong genetic-rather than environmental-component to complex genotype sarcoma risk. We observed no significant familial risk of developing balanced translocation-associated sarcomas, but the sample was small.

IMPACT

There exists yet to be deciphered heritable risk for developing complex genotype sarcomas.

Ewing's Sarcoma and Second Malignancies

Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is a rare tumor that is most common in children and young adults. Late effects of ES therapy include second cancers, a tragic outcome for survivors of such a young age. This paper will explore the frequencies and types of malignancies that occur after ES. Additionally, it will review how second malignancies have changed with the shift in treatment from high-dose radiation to chemotherapy regimens including alkylators and epipodophyllotoxins. The risk of additional cancers in ES survivors will also be compared to survivors of other childhood cancers. Finally, the possible genetic contribution to ES and second malignancies will be discussed.

Is There a Predisposition Gene for Ewing's Sarcoma?

Ewing's sarcoma is a highly malignant tumor of children and young adults. The molecular mechanisms that underlie Ewing's Sarcoma development are beginning to be understood. For example, most cases of this disease harbor somatic chromosomal translocations that fuse the EWSR1 gene on chromosome 22 with members of the ETS family. While some cooperative genetic events have been identified, such as mutations in TP53 or deletions of the CDKN2A locus, these appear to be absent in the vast majority of cases. It is therefore uncertain whether EWS/ETS translocations are the only consistently present alteration in this tumor, or whether there are other recurrent abnormalities yet to be discovered. One method to discover such mutations is to identify familial cases of Ewing's sarcoma and to then map the susceptibility locus using traditional genetic mapping techniques. Although cases of sibling pairs with Ewing's sarcoma exist, familial cases of Ewing's sarcoma have not been reported. While Ewing's sarcoma has been reported as a 2nd malignancy after retinoblastoma, significant associations of Ewing's sarcoma with classic tumor susceptibility syndromes have not been identified. We will review the current evidence, or lack thereof, regarding the potential of a heritable condition predisposing to Ewing's sarcoma.

Epidemiology of bone tumours in children and young adults

Although the epidemiology of malignant bone tumours in children and young adults has been explored, no definitive causation of any specific tumour has yet been identified. We performed a literature review (1970-2008) to find all papers covering possible aetiological factors involved in the development of bone tumours in children and young adults. Several associations have been reported with some consistency: the presence of hernias and Ewing sarcoma; high fluoride exposure and osteosarcoma; and parental farming and residence on a farm, younger age at puberty and family history of cancer for all bone tumours, especially osteosarcoma. Clearly further research is needed to confirm or refute these putative risk factors. It is likely that studies of gene-environment interactions may prove to be the most fruitful of future research.

Bone tumours in European children and adolescents, 1978-1997. Report from the Automated Childhood Cancer Information System project

Data on 5572 children and adolescents diagnosed with malignant bone tumours (International Classification of Childhood Cancer, Group VIII) before the age of 20 years during 1978-1997 in Europe were extracted from the Automated Childhood Cancer Information System (ACCIS) database. Age-standardised incidence among children during the period 1988-1997 was similar for boys and girls aged 0-14 years (5.5-5.6 per million). Among adolescents aged 15-19 years, males had higher incidence (19.3 per million) than females (10.7 per million). Among children, osteosarcoma accounted for 51% of registrations and Ewing's sarcoma for 41%. Among adolescents, 55% of registrations were osteosarcoma and 28% Ewing's sarcoma. Both tumours had their highest incidence in late childhood or early adolescence. There were no significant time trends in incidence during 1978-1997. Five-year survival estimates for patients diagnosed during 1988-1997 were, respectively, 59% and 51% among children and adolescents with osteosarcoma and 62% and 30% among children and adolescents with Ewing's sarcoma. Between 1978-1982 and 1993-1997, survival increased for both children and adolescents with osteosarcoma, and for children with Ewing's sarcoma.