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The article presents opposing views from oncology executives regarding proton beam therapy. Howard J. Weinstein, chief of pediatric hematology and oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, noted that such therapy is an exciting technology as it targets very critical structures and not cause potential damage like normal radiation. On the other hand, David C. Beyer, vice president of Arizona Oncology Services, stated that it is not wise to invest on the therapy and suggests the need to find ways of being more economical.

The article discusses a study which found that heritable mutations of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) are the main cause of neuroblastoma. The researchers performed a scan for linkage at single nucleotide polymorphisms in families with neuroblastoma to identify the location of a hereditary predisposition gene. ALK has been established as a critical neuroblastoma oncogene and should prompt efforts to identify the ligand for the receptor.

The article reports that researchers in France identified three groups at risk for leukemic induction failure in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) children patients. These include children with B-cell progenitor ALL considered as low-risk, children with T-cell ALL with mediastinal mass at moderate-risk, and children with a combination of both as high-risk groups. It shows a 30% versus 85% overall survival among 1,333 children enrolled in the French Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia 93 (FRALLE 93) study.

The article discusses a study of the efficacy of combining imatinib with intensive chemotherapy for children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which was presented at the 49th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. Findings showed that the therapy improved event-free survival and reduced minimal residual disease in patients. Furthermore, imatinib given before and after bone marrow transplant improves survival.