Bay Biosciences provides high quality hepatoblastoma tumor tissue samples FFPE blocks from unique pediatric patients.

Hepatoblastoma Overview

Hepatoblastoma is a very rare type of liver cancer, usually found in babies and children up to age three.

Specifically, hepatoblastoma originates in cells in the liver. Furthermore, it is the most common cancerous (malignant) liver tumor in early childhood. In fact, most hepatoblastoma tumors begin in the right lobe of the liver.

Additionally, hepatoblastoma cancer cells can also spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body. Notably, the most common site of metastasis is the lungs. Moreover, hepatoblastoma primarily affects children from infancy to about 5 years of age. In particular, most cases appear during the first 18 months of life.

Over the last three decades, the annual incidence of hepatoblastoma in children has gradually increased. Interestingly, researchers have reported that extremely premature babies with a birth weight of less than 1 kilo have a greatly increased risk of developing hepatoblastoma.

Furthermore, it affects white children more frequently than black children, and is more common in boys than girls up to about age 5, when the gender difference disappears. Additionally, it occurs more frequently in children who were born very prematurely (early) with very low birth weights.

Causes of Hepatoblastoma

Although the exact cause of liver cancer is unknown. However, a number of genetic conditions, for instance, increase the risk for developing hepatoblastoma. They include:

  • Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome: This syndrome, in particular, characterizes a combination of Wilms’ tumor, kidney failure, genitourinary malformations, and gonad (ovaries or testes) abnormalities. Consequently, doctors classify it as an overgrowth syndrome. Consequently affected infants are considerably larger than normal and tend to be taller than their peers during childhood.
  • Familial adenocarcinoma polyposis: Moreover, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a rare inherited cancer predisposition syndrome characterized by hundreds to thousands of precancerous colorectal polyps (adenomatous polyps). If left untreated, indeed, affected individuals inevitably develop cancer of the colon and/or rectum at a relatively young age. FAP occurs in an inherited autosomal dominant manner and results from abnormalities (mutations) in the APC gene.
  • Hemihypertrophy: Finally, hemihypertrophy, also referred to as hemihyperplasia, is a condition in which one side of the body or a part of one side of the body is larger than the other. Hemihypertrophy relates to several congenital syndromes, including Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and Russell-Silver syndrome. Specifically, these syndromes are both congenital, which means they are present at birth, and they are genetic, meaning they pass down from the parents.

Furthermore, children who are exposed to hepatitis B infection at an early age, or those who have biliary atresia, are also at increased risk for developing liver cancer.

Signs and Symptoms of Hepatoblastoma

The signs and symptoms of pediatric hepatoblastoma often depend on the size of the tumor and whether it has spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms may include:

  • A large mass in the abdomen causing pain
  • Swollen abdomen
  • Weight loss
  • Decreased appetite 
  • Fever 
  • Fatigue 
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting 
  • Dark urine
  • Jaundice (yellowing of eyes and skin)
  • Itchy skin
  • Anemia
  • Back pain

Stages of Hepatoblastoma

Once doctors detect liver cancer, they perform more tests to find out if cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. In fact, this process is called “staging” because it is important to find out what stage the cancer is in.

Subsequently, once the cancer staging information is available, doctors can plan the best treatment for your child.

Specifically, staging depends on the extent the liver is involved and whether the tumor is in only one place or if it has spread. Moreover, the most common sites for metastasis or spread of tumor are the lungs and lymph nodes around the belly.

To illustrate, the following stages are used for pediatric liver cancer:

  • Firstly, Stage I Liver Cancer: Surgeons can remove the cancer with surgery.
  • Secondly, Stage II Liver Cancer: Surgeons may remove most of the cancer through surgery but may leave very small (microscopic) amounts of cancer in the liver following surgery.
  • Furthermore, Stage III Liver Cancer: Surgeons may remove some of the cancer with surgery, but some of the tumor cannot be removed and remains either in the abdomen or in the lymph nodes.
  • Finally, Stage IV Liver Cancer: The cancer has spread from the liver to other parts of the body.”
  • Lastly, recurrent Liver cnacer: The disease has come back (or recurred) after having been treated. It may reappear in the liver or in another part of the body.

Diagnosis of Hepatoblastoma

Doctors often first suspect hepatoblastoma when they detect a large mass in the belly. In addition, healthcare professionals can make the initial diagnosis using imaging and blood tests. Specifically, hepatoblastoma tumors often secrete a protein called alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) into the blood.

Furthermore, an increase in this protein level in the blood helps with making the diagnosis. Moreover, healthcare providers may also perform imaging tests such as ultrasound, CT scan, and MRI of the belly. Subsequently, a pathologist makes a final diagnosis by performing a biopsy or removing the tumor.

To elaborate, a biopsy is a procedure where a doctor removes a part of the mass from the affected area and looks at it under a microscope. Consequently, doctors perform these procedures under general anesthesia so that the child is not awake and will not feel any pain.

 

Biospecimens

biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Human biospecimens are available including cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors for controls, available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples, human biofluids such as serum samples, plasma samples from various diseases and matched controls.

Also, all our human tissue collections, human biospecimens and human biofluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In fact, this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Additionally, researchers find the patient’s data associated with the human biospecimens extremely valuable and use it to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, as well as in other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and human biological samples, including fresh frozen human biospecimens cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as human serum, human plasma and human PBMCs.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) and human biofluids from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

Moreover, we can also procure most human biospecimens and human biofluids, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples and human biofluids are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human biofluids such as  human plasma, human serum, and human PBMCs bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human biospecimens from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, Contact us Now.