RESUMEN
Systemic immunity plays an important role in cancer immune surveillance and response to therapy, but little is known about the immune status of children with solid cancers. We performed a high-dimensional single-cell analysis of systemic immunity in 50 treatment-naive pediatric cancer patients, comparing them to age-matched healthy children. Children with cancer had a lower frequency of peripheral NK cells, which was not due to tumor sequestration, had lower surface levels of activating receptors and increased levels of the inhibitory NKG2A receptor. Furthermore, the natural killer (NK) cells of pediatric cancer patients were less mature and less cytotoxic when tested in vitro. Culture of these NK cells with interleukin-2 restored their cytotoxicity. Collectively, our data show that NK cells in pediatric cancer patients are impaired through multiple mechanisms and identify rational strategies to restore their functionality.
RESUMEN
The Tommy's National Centre for Miscarriage Research aims to support the diagnosis and treatment for couples suffering from recurrent miscarriage. Tommy's Net is an electronic data gathering tool, collecting miscarriage data and links with hospital Clinical Information System databases. The gathering of patient reported data is an important aspect, especially as data relating to pregnancy and miscarriage events are often left unreported. METHODS: Both traditional paper-based and electronic patient reported outcome (ePRO) solutions have been explored to improve response rates, minimize data redundancy and reduce burden on staff. Popular ePRO survey solutions have been compared, including REDCap, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics and LimeSurvey. RESULTS: LimeSurvey was selected as the most appropriate solution as it provided self-hosting capability, SMS integration and ease of use. CONCLUSION: We have implemented a LimeSurvey based ePRO system for collection of baseline and follow-up data for participants on the Tommy's study.