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The Children's Oncology Group (COG), a clinical trials group supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is the world's largest organization devoted exclusively to pediatric cancer research. The COG conducts a spectrum of clinical research and translational research trials for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer. Almost all centers that treat children with cancer in the US and Canada are part of the COG, with more than 200 centers in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand. The member institutions have multidisciplinary teams consisting of physicians, research scientists, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists and other specialists. The group, with more than 7,500 experts worldwide, has nearly 100 active clinical-translational trials open at any given time. These trials include treatment for many types of childhood cancers, studies aimed at determining the underlying biology of these diseases, and trials involving new and emerging treatments, supportive care, and survivorship. More than 90% of 13,500 children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States are cared for at COG member institutions.


History

The cooperative group system for clinical research began in 1955 with a consortium focused on childhood cancer research. By the mid-1990s, there were nine groups funded by the NCI to conduct research in adults with cancer, and four focused on childhood cancer research. Two groups, the
Children's Cancer Study Group The Children's Oncology Group (COG), a clinical trials group supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is the world's largest organization devoted exclusively to pediatric cancer research. The COG conducts a spectrum of clinical research a ...
(CCG) and the
Pediatric Oncology Group The Pediatric Oncology Group (POG) was a U.S. and Canadian clinical trial cooperative group created with the mission of studying childhood cancers. It was formed by the merger of the pediatric divisions of two other cooperative groups, the Southw ...
(POG) studied a diverse array of childhood cancers, while two others, the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group (IRSG) and the
National Wilms Tumor Study Group The National Wilms Tumor Study Group (NWTS) is a cancer research cooperative group in the United States formed to study a type of kidney tumor that affects children called Wilms' tumor. In 2001, NWTS merged with several other pediatric oncology co ...
(NWTS) were specific for particular cancers. In 2000, the four pediatric groups merged to create the Children's Oncology Group. Since then, its researchers have published well over one thousand research manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals. COG has enrolled more children with cancer on clinical trials than any other organization in the world.


Research studies

The group's research studies encompass hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, central nervous system tumors, and rare cancers. Hematologic malignancies include the most common childhood cancer,
acute lymphoblastic leukemia Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the lymphoid line of blood cells characterized by the development of large numbers of immature lymphocytes. Symptoms may include feeling tired, pale skin color, fever, easy bleeding or bruisin ...
, as well as acute myeloid leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Hodgkin lymphoma. Pediatric
solid tumors A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
studied include neuroblastoma, tumors of bone ( Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma), tumors of the kidney ( Wilms' tumor), rhabdomyosarcoma and other
soft tissue sarcomas A soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) is a malignant tumour, a type of cancer, that develops in soft tissue. A soft tissue sarcoma is often a painless mass that grows slowly over months or years. They may be superficial or deep-seated. Any such unexplained ...
. Central nervous system (brain) tumors are the second most common form of childhood cancer. COG conducts research in children with medulloblastoma, ependymoma,
brainstem gliomas A brainstem glioma is a cancerous glioma tumor in the brainstem. Around 75% are diagnosed in children and young adults under the age of twenty, but have been known to affect older adults as well. Brainstem gliomas start in the brain or spinal c ...
, low and high-grade gliomas, and
germ cell tumors Germ cell tumor (GCT) is a neoplasm derived from germ cells. Germ-cell tumors can be cancerous or benign. Germ cells normally occur inside the gonads (ovary and testis). GCTs that originate outside the gonads may be birth defects resulting from er ...
. The large multi-site structure of COG also allows it to conduct research into very rare childhood cancer including retinoblastoma, hepatoblastoma, and other tumors. In addition to disease specific research, COG conducts studies in developmental therapeutics (new cancer drug development), supportive care, epidemiology,
stem cell transplantation Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood in order to replicate inside of a patient and to produce ...
,
behavioral sciences Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic o ...
and survivorship.


Funding

The COG is primarily funded by the NCI, the primary or Chair's grant supports research operations and funds personnel at member institutions conducting research, and the statistics and data center grant supports these essential research functions. Other key grants include the COG Phase 1 Consortium grant, supporting 21 COG institutions charged with early phase clinical trials, and the Community Cancer Oncology Program (CCOP) grant. There is additional funding from other granting agencies and from philanthropic sources.


References


External links

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COG Foundation
{{Authority control Cancer organizations based in the United States Clinical trial organizations United States *