IARC Teams related to WHO Global Initiatives IARC Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC) Team

Starting date: March 2023

Work Programme

The WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC) strives for the goal of increasing the survival rate of children with cancer globally to at least 60% by 2030 while reducing their suffering and improving their quality of life.

The objectives of the IARC GICC Team are:

to improve communication within IARC and seek synergies in research on childhood cancer;
to streamline the dissemination of knowledge on childhood cancer generated at IARC; and
to support the WHO GICC by providing scientific evidence for global action.

To achieve these goals, the team members meet regularly within IARC and with WHO partners. IARC’s expertise in research on childhood cancer is built through the following projects.

International Incidence of Childhood Cancer (IICC): Childhood cancer data, collected by population-based cancer registries around the world, are processed, analysed, and periodically disseminated through the IICC series, which is a unique resource on childhood cancer incidence. The latest volume (IICC-3) was supported by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC): This is a standardized system that categorizes paediatric cancer types according to the WHO Classification of Paediatric Tumours and the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (ICD-O) into three-level categories. The ICCC facilitates consistent reporting of cancer statistics in childhood populations on an international level.

Targeting Childhood Cancer through the Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development (ChildGICR): The development of childhood cancer registration in low- and middle-income countries is supported through implementation in target countries, an educational programme, and implementation research. This project is conducted in collaboration with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (USA), which also supports the project financially.

Cancer Risk in Childhood Cancer Survivors (CRICCS): This project leverages international quality-assured data collected by population-based cancer registries. The objectives of CRICCS are to estimate the number of childhood cancer survivors in a population, to understand the risk of development of second cancers among childhood cancer survivors, and to develop guidelines for population-based cancer registries to study childhood cancer survivorship. This project is supported by Children with Cancer UK.

Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC): Founded in 2007 with a focus on leukaemia, this consortium facilitates collaboration among more than 20 case–control studies on the etiology of childhood cancer, conducted on all continents. In more than 25 publications, IARC has mostly been leading the research on environmental causes, in particular parental occupational exposures before conception or during pregnancy and domestic exposures such as pesticides and paint. CLIC is currently expanding to include studies on childhood brain tumours.

Childhood Cancer – Epidemiology, Research, and Omics (CICERO): This new multidisciplinary project examines several complementary aspects of childhood cancer research. One part of the project is dedicated to studies of childhood cancer in Africa, in particular completeness of ascertainment, understanding referral patterns, survival, and treatment completion. This will be complemented by defining molecular profiles of childhood cancer cases in Africa using epigenomics methodology. Another part of CICERO is dedicated to the development and dissemination of indicators of the burden of childhood cancer and encompasses incidence, survival, prevalence, mortality, and financial impact. The CICERO project is supported by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Government of the Netherlands.

Childhood cancer in relation to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from television and radio broadcast transmitters (CIRE-RF): This is a registry-based case–control study in France in which residential information from previous case–control studies is linked with estimates of environmental exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields obtained from official sources. This is the newest in the portfolio of studies investigating the unresolved question of whether exposure to electric, magnetic, or electromagnetic fields increases the risk of certain childhood cancers.

Childhood Leukaemia and Environmental Risk Factors (CLERF): In this pilot study, conducted in Germany, IARC explored the feasibility of recruiting patients with leukaemia, enrolled in European clinical trials, for etiological research on gene–environment interactions. On the basis of these findings, a standardized protocol of recruitment, applicable to most European countries, can be developed.

COVID-19 and Childhood Cancer: This project looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence of childhood cancer, using data from the German Childhood Cancer Registry. The pandemic may have had an impact on risk, referral, delayed diagnosis, and/or treatment.

EpiChildCan: This project aims to identify molecular epigenetic precursor markers of early-life factors associated with risk of childhood cancer and its predisposing phenotypes. The project spans critical stages of childhood cancer development, while backtracking its origin to the birth period and using data amassed in large, unique, and complementary networks of prospective and retrospective studies. This work is supported by the National Cancer Institute in France, the IARC Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme, the Marie Curie Actions-People-COFUND, and Children with Cancer UK. This project benefits from access to the rich resources of the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C).

International Lifestyle Behaviour and Biobanking Programme in Paediatric Oncology: This project is a collaboration between IARC and the International Initiative for Pediatrics and Nutrition (IIPAN) that aims to develop an information resource for studying the impact of nutrition and other lifestyle factors on health outcomes in children and adolescents with cancer. Understanding the role of nutrition status will help improve survival of children and adolescents with cancer. Recruitment of patients and data collection are under way by personnel trained at collaborating IIPAN sites in several countries, using standard operating procedures.

Global Acute Leukaemia/Lymphoma network (GALnet): This is a research consortium in which expertise acquired in high-income countries is transferred to paediatric oncology units based in low- and middle-income countries to increase their participation in international research projects. The consortium has contributed to the understanding of childhood cancer and improved awareness, detection, diagnosis, and treatment in different parts of the world.

Determinants of Late Diagnosis and Delayed Treatment of Cancer (DEDICA): This study aims to evaluate the determinants of late diagnosis and delayed treatment of childhood cancers and how the elimination of these challenges can contribute towards the improvement of cancer control strategy. On the basis of the perceptions of patients with cancer, the study will investigate which determinants of socioeconomic status and the health system affect the time to diagnosis and the time to treatment initiation and completion.

The IARC Monographs programme identifies the causes of human cancer. Agents that are known or suspected to cause different types of cancer (including childhood cancers) are identified in the list of classifications by cancer site. Agents accorded priority for evaluation are listed in the most recent report of the Advisory Group to Recommend Priorities for the IARC Monographs and include agents linked to the risk of childhood cancer.

South-ROCK: In this project, the current paediatric oncology research consortia active in southern regions of France, centred around Lyon and Marseille, have set up an integrated centre of excellence in paediatric oncology research, called Research on Cancer for Kids (ROCK), in which IARC participates. The main themes of this large consortium are the therapeutic exploitation of alterations in developmental pathways in paediatric tumours, adapting care approaches to the developing bodies of children and adolescents with cancer, and implications of characterizing the role of environmental factors for the prevention of paediatric cancers.

Team Composition

Team Leaders:
Dr Eva Steliarova-Foucher, Cancer Surveillance Branch (CSU) and Dr Akram Ghantous, Epigenomics and Mechanisms Branch (EGM)
Emails: steliarovae@iarc.who.int; ghantousa@iarc.who.int

Secretary: Dr Neimar de Paula Silva (Postdoctoral Scientist, CSU)

Team members:
Dr Andre Carvalho (Scientist, EPR)
Dr Inge Huybrechts (Scientist, NME)
Dr Ann Olsson (Scientist, ENV)

Early-career scientists:
Dr Shiny Manohar (IARC Postdoctoral Fellow, NME)
Dr Ceren Sunguc (Postdoctoral Scientist, CSU)

Director’s representatives:
Dr Véronique Chajès (Programme Officer, Director’s Office)
Mr Clément Chauvet (Strategic Engagement and Resource Mobilization Officer, Director’s Office)

Senior advisors:
Dr Freddie Bray (Branch Head, CSU)
Dr Joachim Schüz (Branch Head, ENV)
Dr Zdenko Herceg (Branch Head, EGM)
Dr Mary Schubauer-Berigan (Branch Head, ESC)

Key publications

De Paula Silva N, Colombet M, Moreno F, Erdmann F, Dolya A, Piñeros M, et al. (2024). Incidence of childhood cancer in Latin America and the Caribbean: coverage, patterns, and time trends. Rev Panam Salud Publica. (forthcoming)
Kintossou AK, Blanco-Lopez J, Iguacel I, Pisanu S, Almeida CCB, Steliarova-Foucher E, et al. (2023). Early life nutrition factors and risk of acute leukemia in children: systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrients. 15(17):3775. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15173775 PMID:37686807
Gini A, Colombet M, de Paula Silva N, Visser O, Youlden D, Soerjomataram I, et al.; CRICCS Consortium (2023). A new method of estimating prevalence of childhood cancer survivors (POCCS): example of the 20-year prevalence in The Netherlands. Int J Epidemiol. 52(6):1898–906. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyad124 PMID:37738448
Onyije FM, Olsson A, Erdmann F, Magnani C, Petridou E, Clavel J, et al.; NARECHEM-ST Group (2022). Parental occupational exposure to combustion products, metals, silica and asbestos and risk of childhood leukaemia: findings from the Childhood Cancer and Leukaemia International Consortium (CLIC). Environ Int. 167:107409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107409 PMID:35908390
Onyije FM, Olsson A, Baaken D, Erdmann F, Stanulla M, Wollschläger D, et al. (2022). Environmental risk factors for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an umbrella review. Cancers (Basel). 14(2):382. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020382 PMID:35053543
Manara F, Jay A, Odongo GA, Mure F, Maroui MA, Diederichs A, et al. (2022). Epigenetic alteration of the cancer-related gene TGFBI in B cells infected with Epstein-Barr virus and exposed to aflatoxin B1: potential role in Burkitt lymphoma development. Cancers (Basel). 14(5):1284. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051284 PMID:35267594
Piñeros M, Mery L, Soerjomataram I, Bray F, Steliarova-Foucher E (2021). Scaling up the surveillance of childhood cancer: a global roadmap. J Natl Cancer Inst. 113(1):9–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djaa069 PMID:32433739
Talibov M, Olsson A, Bailey H, Erdmann F, Metayer C, Magnani C, et al. (2019). Parental occupational exposure to low-frequency magnetic fields and risk of leukaemia in the offspring: findings from the Childhood Leukaemia International Consortium (CLIC). Occup Environ Med. 76(10):746–53. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2019-105706 PMID:31358566
Ladas EJ, Gunter M, Huybrechts I, Barr R (2019). A global strategy for building clinical capacity and advancing research in the context of malnutrition and cancer in children within low- and middle-income countries. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2019(54):149–51. https://doi.org/10.1093/jncimonographs/lgz023 PMID:31532534
Herceg Z, Ghantous A, Wild CP, Sklias A, Casati L, Duthie SJ, et al. (2018). Roadmap for investigating epigenome deregulation and environmental origins of cancer. Int J Cancer. 142(5):874–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.31014 PMID:28836271