Overview

• Researchers at CPOM/Hospital de Amor analyzed tumor tissue from 17 children diagnosed between 2000 and 2021, with findings published in Frontiers in Immunology.
• Immune profiling of roughly 800 genes revealed histology-specific signatures, with dysgerminomas showing abundant CD8+ T cells alongside higher CTLA-4, TIGIT, and IDO1.
• Yolk sac tumors displayed exhausted T cells with elevated CD24 and PVR linked to immune evasion and chemotherapy resistance, and embryonic carcinomas also showed increased CD24.
• The team compared pediatric data with adult datasets to contextualize immune features and to identify candidate targets such as CD24 for potential immunotherapy or chemosensitization.
• Authors caution that the small cohort and incomplete subtype coverage limit conclusions, and they plan multicenter validation and clinical trials; the work won SLAOP’s best paper award.