• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, October 10, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Cancer

Study reveals elevated cancer risk in children with birth defects

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 25, 2019
in Cancer
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Baylor College of Medicine

Childhood cancer is a rare occurrence in the overall population but may be somewhat more frequent in children born with birth defects. To better understand the link between cancer risk and birth defects, a collaborative team of scientists led by Baylor College of Medicine has assembled the largest study to date to evaluate cancer risk in children with birth defects. The study appears in JAMA Oncology.

“While cancer risk in children with certain chromosomal defects like Down syndrome is well established, much less is known for children with birth defects where there is no known genetic cause, sometimes called non-chromosomal defects,” said Dr. Philip Lupo, associate professor of pediatrics – hematology oncology and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. “Non-chromosomal defects, as a group, affect more children, but one of the primary challenges of understanding risk among these children is that limited sample sizes make studying specific defects, like spina bifida, more difficult.”

The research team gathered data from birth, birth defect and cancer registries across Texas, Arkansas, Michigan and North Carolina to generate a birth cohort of more than 10 million children born between 1992 and 2013. The investigators looked at diagnoses of cancer until 18 years of age to determine differences in cancer risk between those with and without birth defects.

Researchers found that, compared to children without any birth defect, children with chromosomal defects were almost 12 times more likely to develop cancer, while children with non-chromosomal defects were 2.5 times more likely to develop cancer. Additionally, children with more than one non-chromosomal defect had a corresponding increase in cancer risk.

“Our two key objectives in this study were to identify children who are at an increased risk for cancer, because subsets of these children may one day benefit from screening and better clinical management, and to uncover clues as to why cancer occurs more frequently in this population,” said Dr. Jeremy Schraw, postdoctoral associate in the Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences at Baylor. “These findings solidify our understanding of cancer risk in these children and show that we need additional research in this area.”

Cancer types that were more frequent in children with non-chromosomal defects included hepatoblastoma and neuroblastoma.

While these findings identify specific, strong associations between birth defects and cancer, Schraw said that it is important to remember that both birth defects and cancer are still rare occurrences.

“This study is important in that it is the largest and most informative of its kind. The large sample size allowed us to evaluate cancer risk in children with both chromosomal versus non-chromosomal defects and revealed links between specific cancers and specific birth defects. These data can also help us to study and understand differences in outcomes down the road for children with cancer,” said Dr. Sharon Plon, professor of pediatrics – oncology and molecular and human genetics and co-director of the Pediatric Cancer Program in the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor.

“In the future, we hope to identify the specific genes behind these associations and systematically research what happens from the time of birth to the time of cancer onset to also understand if environmental factors may be contributing to cancer development,” Lupo said. “This study provides new understanding about biology and the mechanisms that may lead to these complex outcomes in this population.”

###

This study was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, and Arkansas Biosciences Institute. For a full list of contributors, visit the journal website.

Media Contact
Dana Benson

[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.bcm.edu/news/pediatrics/study-reveals-cancer-risk-birth-defects

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.1215

Tags: cancerDevelopmental/Reproductive BiologyGeneticsMedicine/HealthPediatrics
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Ulrich Appointed President-Elect of AACI

October 9, 2025

New Study Uncovers Genetic Connection to the Most Common Pediatric Bone Cancer

October 9, 2025

Breakthrough Clinical Trial Aims to Target Cancer’s Hidden Growth Mechanism

October 9, 2025

Acidic Tumor Microenvironment Enhances Cancer Cell Survival and Proliferation

October 9, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1184 shares
    Share 473 Tweet 296
  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    101 shares
    Share 40 Tweet 25
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    96 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • Ohio State Study Reveals Protein Quality Control Breakdown as Key Factor in Cancer Immunotherapy Failure

    82 shares
    Share 33 Tweet 21

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Akkermansia muciniphila Supernatant Fights Resistant Enterococcus Faecalis

Bifidobacterium adolescentis SPM2022 Shows Anti-Obesity Effects

Impact of Nurses’ Well-being on Organ Donation Attitudes

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm' to start subscribing.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.