Dataset Information

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between childhood infections and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To determine whether childhood infections were associated with the development of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Methods

We included studies that assessed any infection in childhood prior to the diagnosis of ALL in children aged 0-19 years compared to children without cancer. The primary analysis synthesised any infection against the odds of ALL, and secondary analyses assessed the frequency, severity, timing of infections, and specific infectious agents against the odds of ALL. Subgroup analyses by data source were investigated.

Results

In our primary analysis of 12?496 children with ALL and 2?356?288 children without ALL from 38 studies, we found that any infection was not associated with ALL (odds ratio (OR)=1.10, 95% CI: 0.95-1.28). Among studies with laboratory-confirmed infections, the presence of infections increased the odds of ALL by 2.4-fold (OR=2.42, 95% CI: 1.54-3.82). Frequency, severity, and timing of infection were not associated with ALL.

Conclusions

The hypothesis put forward by Greaves and others about an infectious aetiology are neither confirmed nor refuted and the overall evidence remains inadequate for good judgement. The qualitative difference in the subgroup effects require further study, and future research will need to address the challenges in measuring infectious exposures.

SUBMITTER: Hwee J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5765221 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between childhood infections and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Hwee Jeremiah J Tait Christopher C Sung Lillian L Kwong Jeffrey C JC Sutradhar Rinku R Pole Jason D JD

British journal of cancer 20171024 1

<h4>Background</h4>To determine whether childhood infections were associated with the development of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).<h4>Methods</h4>We included studies that assessed any infection in childhood prior to the diagnosis of ALL in children aged 0-19 years compared to children without cancer. The primary analysis synthesised any infection against the odds of ALL, and secondary analyses assessed the frequency, severity, timing of infections, and specific infectious agents ...[more]

PMID: 29065105

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectivesTo investigate the effectiveness and safety of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in the management of paediatric Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Ph+ALL).DesignA systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sourcesElectronic searches were conducted on CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SIOP, ASPHO, ASCO, ASH and four Chinese databases from inception to 8 March 2020. Language of publications was restricted in English and Chinese.Eligibility criteriaProspective and retrospective comparative studies were included.Data extraction and synthesisTwo authors independently assessed and extracted data. Quality of studies was assessed by the Cochrane Collaboration's tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Subgroup analysis was performed by comparing different types of TKIs. Quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.ResultsTwo randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and four cohort studies enrolling 536 patients were included. For RCTs, the pooled HR was 0.68 (95% CI 0.26 to 1.78) in overall survival (OS), 0.63 (95% CI 0.28 to 1.42) in event-free survival (EFS), respectively, comparing TKI arm with non-TKI arm for treatment of paediatric Ph+ALL. There was significant difference in OS and EFS between imatinib arm and dasatinib arm (HR 2.26, 95% CI 1.02 to 5.01; HR 2.36; 95% CI 1.27 to 4.39, respectively). For cohort studies, the pooled HR was 0.25 (95% CI 0.14 to 0.47) in OS, 0.25 (95% CI 0.12 to 0.56) in EFS, respectively, comparing TKI arm with non-TKI arm. There was no significance difference in adverse drug reaction between TKI group and without TKI group (risk ratio (RR) 0.82, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.08 in RCT; RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.59 in cohort studies; respectively), and imatinib versus dasatinib (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.23). The quality of evidence was rated as low for OS, EFS and adverse drug reaction (ADR).ConclusionsThe combination of TKIs with chemotherapy is likely to improve the OS and EFS rates in paediatric Ph+ALL, and dasatinib is superior than imatinib. Large sample size and prospective controlled studies are warranted.Prospero registration numberCRD42018104107.

Project description:Hereditary predisposition is rarely suspected for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Recent reports of germline ETV6 variations associated with substantial familial clustering of haematological malignancies indicated that this gene is a potentially important genetic determinant for ALL susceptibility. Our aims in this study were to comprehensively identify ALL predisposition variants in ETV6 and to determine the extent to which they contributed to the overall risk of childhood ALL.Whole-exome sequencing of an index family with several cases of ALL was done to identify causal variants for ALL predisposition. Targeted sequencing of ETV6 was done in children from the Children's Oncology Group and St Jude Children's Research Hospital front-line ALL trials. Patients were included in this study on the basis of their enrolment in these clinical trials and the availability of germline DNA. ETV6 variant genotypes were compared with non-ALL controls to define ALL-related germline risk variants. ETV6 variant function was characterised bioinformatically and correlated with clinical and demographic features in children with ALL.We identified a novel non-sense ETV6 variant (p.Arg359X) with a high penetrance in an index family. Subsequent targeted sequencing of ETV6 in 4405 childhood ALL cases identified 31 exonic variants (four non-sense, 21 missense, one splice site, and five frameshift variants) that were potentially related to ALL risk in 35 cases (1%). 15 (48%) of 31 ALL-related ETV6 variants clustered in the erythroblast transformation specific domain and were predicted to be highly deleterious. Children with ALL-related ETV6 variants were significantly older at leukaemia diagnosis than those without (10·2 years [IQR 5·3-13·8] vs 4·7 years [3·0-8·7]; p=0·017). The hyperdiploid leukaemia karyotype was highly over-represented in ALL cases harbouring germline ETV6 risk variants compared with the wild-type group (nine [64%] of 14 cases vs 538 [27%] of 2007 cases; p=0·0050).Our findings indicated germline ETV6 variations as the basis of a novel genetic syndrome associated with predisposition to childhood ALL. The development of recommendations for clinical interventions and surveillance for individuals harbouring ALL-related ETV6 variants are needed.US National Institutes of Health and American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities.

Dataset Information

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between childhood infections and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between childhood infections and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Similar Datasets

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