Conference programme

Childhood Cancer 2012 brought together an outstanding line-up of speakers from a range of different research disciplines to speak on aspects of childhood cancer and early exposures.

The panel of invited speakers were joined by the authors of 25 submitted abstracts, representing a cross-section of over 100 excellent abstracts submitted for poster presentation.

We are pleased to be able to make available videos of some of the presentations and copies of some of the speakers' slides. You can access these by clicking on the links next to speakers' names below.

Tuesday, 24th April 2012
08:00	Open for registration
09:45	SESSION 1 - Setting the scene Chair:
	Welcome on behalf of CHILDREN with CANCER UK Professor Denis Henshaw \| View welcome video
	Opening address Professor Sir Alan Craft \| View slides \| View opening address
	Keynote address Professor David Barker \| View slides \| View presentation The intrauterine origins of cancer
	Mr Charles Stiller \| View slides \| View presentation National and international childhood cancer incidence and time trends
11:20	Coffee
11:45	SESSION 2 - The prognosis for children diagnosed with cancer in the 21st century Chair:
	Dr Anupama Rao Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
	Dr Darren Hargrave Childhood CNS tumours
	Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones Childhood non-CNS solid tumours
	Discussion \| View discussion
13:15	Lunch and posters
14:30	SESSION 3 - Genetic and epigenetic aspects of childhood cancer risk Chair:
	Professor Nazneen Rahman \| View slides \| View presentation Genetic susceptibility to childhood cancer
	Professor Joseph Wiemels \| View slides \| Presentation pending publication of data Epigenetic changes and childhood cancer
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Elizabeth Perdeaux - GWAS identifies six loci, implicating the planar cell polarity pathway and the MYCN-DDX1 2p24.3 amplicon region in Wilms tumor susceptibility
	Proffered paper Dr Amy Sherborne - Developmental timing of mutations in childhood leukaemia: insights from genome sequencing in twin pairs with ALL
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Sanne van Otterdijk - Does childhood leukaemia develop in cells which are pre-primed by the presence of aberrant patterns of DNA methylation?
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Ariadna Mendoza-Naranjo - ErbB4 is a novel driver of metastasis and chemoresistance in Ewing sarcoma
	Discussion \| View discussion
16:30	Tea and posters
17:00	SESSION 4 - Birth characteristics Chair:
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Lisbeth Samsø Schmidt - Birth characteristics and the subsequent risk of childhood CNS tumours and Incidence of childhood CNS tumours in the Nordic countries
	Proffered paper \| View presentation Dr Kate O'Neill - Infant birth weight as a risk factor for childhood cancer
	Proffered paper Professor Peggy Reynolds - Birth defects as clues to the aetiology of cancer in children
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Jérémie Rudant - Use of fertility treatments and childhood acute leukaemia: the ESCALE study
	Discussion \| View discussion
18:00	Wine reception and poster viewing
Wednesday, 25th April 2012
08:30	SESSION 5 - Air pollution and smoking Chair:
	Introduction to air pollution and smoking Professor Denis Henshaw \| View introduction
	Dr Mathuros Ruchirawat DNA damage and repair in children exposed to benzene and carcinogenic compounds in ambient air
	Proffered paper Professor Peggy Reynolds - Hazardous air pollutants and risk of childhood brain tumours in California
	Proffered paper Dr Julia Heck - Traffic-related air pollution and childhood cancers in Los Angeles county
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| Presentation not yet available Dr Catherine Metayer - Effects of tobacco smoking on the risks of childhood acute lymphocytic and myeloid leukaemias, by phenotypic and cytogenetic subtype
	Proffered paper Professor Elizabeth Milne - Parental pre-natal smoking and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Jessica Trimis - Parental smoking and risk of childhood brain tumours by functional polymorphisms in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolism genes
	Discussion \| View discussion
10:30	Coffee and posters
11:00	SESSION 6 - Aspartame, pesticides and other chemical exposures Chair:
	Dr Morando Soffritti \| View slides \| View presentation Aspartame and sucralose: the experimental evidence of cancer risk
	Professor Claire Infante-Rivard \| View slides \| View presentation Exposure to pesticides and childhood cancer risk
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Gisele Moledo de Vasconcelos - PON1 polymorphisms and the risk of Wilms tumour
	Proffered paper Dr Sergio Koifman - Pregnancy, maternal exposure to hair dyes or hair straightening cosmetics and early age leukaemia in Brazil
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Lucia Miligi - SETIL study: risk of childhood cancers in relation to parental occupational exposure
	Discussion View discussion
12:45	Lunch and poster viewing
13:45	SESSION 7 - Non-ionising radiation Chair:
	Professor Richard Stevens \| View slides \| View presentation Electric light, circadian disruption and cancer risk
	Professor Elisabeth Cardis \| View slides \| View presentation Rationale for the IARC 2b classification for ELF and RF EMF
	Professor Denis Henshaw \| View slides \| View presentation How might power frequency magnetic fields cause increased risk of childhood leukaemia?
	Discussion \| View discussion
15:30	Tea and posters
16:00	SESSION 8 - Brain tumours, mobile phones and childhood cancer Chair:
	Professor Geoff Pilkington \| View slides \| View presentation Brain tumours: complexity in type, biology and origin
	Professor Dariusz Leszczynski \| View slides \| View presentation Possible mechanism of cell phone radiation-induced brain cancer
	Proffered paper Tina Veje Andersen - Mobile phone use, patterns of infectious disease, social contacts in early life and brain tumours in children and adults: an international case-control study (CEFALO)
	Discussion \| View discussion
17:30	Day two close
19:30	CONFERENCE DINNER, Royal College of Physicians
Thursday, 26th April 2012
08:30	SESSION 9 - Ionising radiation Chair:
	Professor Richard Wakeford \| View slides \| View presentation Ionising radiation and childhood cancer overview
	Professor Yuri Dubrova \| View slides \| View presentation Radiation genetics, epigenetics and effects on clock genes
	Professor Kevin Prise Bystander signalling - a future perspective
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Richard McNally - Increasing incidence and geographical analysis of thyroid cancer in Great Britain, 1976 to 2005
	Discussion \| View discussion
10:15	Coffee and posters
10:45	SESSION 10 - Infection and immunity Chair:
	Dr Kevin Urayama \| View slides \| Presentation not available Early life exposures to infectious agents and childhood cancer risk
	Proffered paper \| Slides and presentation not yet available Srividya Swaminathan - Infectious origins of childhood leukaemia
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Dr Giorgia Randi - A childhood leukaemia cluster in Milan: possible role of pandemic AH1N1 swine flu virus
	Discussion \| View discussion
12:00	Lunch and posters
13:00	SESSION 11 - Diet Chair:
	Professor Eleni Petridou \| View slides \| View presentation Maternal and child dietary habits and childhood leukaemia risk
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Professor Anand Chokkalingam - Folate and childhood leukaemia risk
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Alicia Amigou - Folic acid supplementation, MTHFR and MTRR polymorphisms and the risk of childhood leukaemia: the ESCALE study
	Discussion \| View discussion
14:00	Tea Break
14:30	SESSION 12 - What positive steps can be taken to reduce the risk of childhood cancer? Chair: Professor Richard Stevens
	Professor Annie Sasco \| View slides \| View presentation Alliance of prevention and precaution for childhood cancer control
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Professor Pat Buffler - The Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC)
	Proffered paper \| View slides \| View presentation Professor Terry Dwyer - The International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C)
	Dr Somdat Mahabir Report on NIH efforts to tackle early-life exposures and cancer
	Panel discussion: "In terms of public health policy what positive steps can be taken to reduce the risk of childhood cancer?" - leading into a general discussion: "What are the key messages from the conference?" View discussions: Panel discussion \| General discussion
16:30	CLOSING SESSION
	Poster prize presentation \| View prize presentations Closing talk \| View closing session and talk
17:00	Close of conference

51 Great Ormond Street
London WC1N 3JQ
Tel: 020 7404 0808
Fax: 020 7404 3666

Registered Charity Number: 298405
Inaugurated by Diana, Princess of Wales

Conference programme

Tuesday, 24th April 2012

SESSION 1 - Setting the scene Chair:

SESSION 2 - The prognosis for children diagnosed with cancer in the 21st century Chair:

SESSION 3 - Genetic and epigenetic aspects of childhood cancer risk Chair:

SESSION 4 - Birth characteristics Chair:

Wednesday, 25th April 2012

SESSION 5 - Air pollution and smoking Chair:

SESSION 6 - Aspartame, pesticides and other chemical exposures Chair:

SESSION 7 - Non-ionising radiation Chair:

SESSION 8 - Brain tumours, mobile phones and childhood cancer Chair:

Thursday, 26th April 2012

SESSION 9 - Ionising radiation Chair:

SESSION 10 - Infection and immunity Chair:

SESSION 11 - Diet Chair:

SESSION 12 - What positive steps can be taken to reduce the risk of childhood cancer? Chair: Professor Richard Stevens

CLOSING SESSION

Useful resources

SESSION 1 - Setting the scene
Chair:

SESSION 2 - The prognosis for children diagnosed with cancer in the 21st century
Chair:

SESSION 3 - Genetic and epigenetic aspects of childhood cancer risk
Chair:

SESSION 4 - Birth characteristics
Chair:

SESSION 5 - Air pollution and smoking
Chair:

SESSION 6 - Aspartame, pesticides and other chemical exposures
Chair:

SESSION 7 - Non-ionising radiation
Chair:

SESSION 8 - Brain tumours, mobile phones and childhood cancer
Chair:

SESSION 9 - Ionising radiation
Chair:

SESSION 10 - Infection and immunity
Chair:

SESSION 11 - Diet
Chair:

SESSION 12 - What positive steps can be taken to reduce the risk of childhood cancer?
Chair: Professor Richard Stevens