Predicting risk in kids

Febrile neutropenia (FN) occurs when patients contract a fever when their neutrophils are low. This is the first study worldwide that used cutting-edge gene sequencing tools to analyse the immune response during FN episodes in child cancer patients.Leveraging WEHI’s Next Generation Sequencing technology and skills from the Institute’s bioinformatics team, we were able to compare the transcriptional profiles of blood cells from children with cancer and FN, to identify 24 genes that could be used to distinguish between mild and severe FN infections. New research has identified the child cancer patients at greatest risk of developing life threatening infections, in a crucial step towards the development of an early diagnostic test.

This landmark study could prevent thousands of low-risk cancer patients worldwide from undergoing unnecessary treatment and potentially disrupting their chemotherapy.