Past and future international collaborations in treatment of childhood renal tumors in Japan

Abstract

It is difficult to perform clinical studies on children with rare renal tumors, such as clear cell sarcoma, rhabdoid tumor, or recurrent tumor, because the number of cases is too small in Japan. For these tumors, international collaboration is necessary. The Japan Wilms Tumor Study (JWiTS) Group has performed clinical trials according to the study protocol established by the National Wilms Tumor Study (NWTS) Group in the USA. The studies of the NWTS Group were succeeded by those of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) in the USA. The new studies of COG consisted of several parts of protocols, and biological analysis is necessary for risk classification. Therefore, it is difficult for us to collaborate with COG. The renal tumor committee of the International Symposium of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) started a new clinical study protocol called “Umbrella”, which covers all the pediatric renal tumors. It is easy to join this study from all over the world, and we will be able to compare the biological differences of Wilms tumor between Japanese and European populations. Therefore, the JWiTS Group is now preparing to join the SIOP-Umbrella protocol.