TRK fusion-positive sarcomas and lung cancer e-learning

Prof. Erin Rudzinski completed her undergraduate degree at Berry College, graduating magna cum laude in 1999. She obtained her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 2003. Dr Rudzinski completed her anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2007. Following her residency, she completed an additional anatomic pathology fellowship year at Vanderbilt, followed by a pediatric pathology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital/University of Washington Medical Center. She joined the staff at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 2009, and she is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington. Dr Rudzinski specializes in pediatric solid tumors, with a focus on pediatric soft tissue tumors. The goal of her research is improving the morphologic and molecular classification of pediatric soft tissue tumors, including the development of ancillary diagnostic biomarkers (ie. immunohistochemistry). Dr Rudzinski is an active member of the Children’s Oncology Group, the College of American Pathologists, and the Society for Pediatric Pathology. Relevant Publications Patel S, Rudzinski ER, Perkins J. Congenital neurocristic tumor of the head and neck. The Laryngoscope, 2013 Mar;123(3):805-8. Skapek SX, Hawkins DS, Anderson J, Barr FG, Bridge J, Gastier-Foster JM, Parham DM, Rudzinski ER, Triche T. PAX-FOXO1 fusion status drives unfavorable outcome for children with rhabdomyosarcoma: A Children’s Oncology Group report. Pediatric Blood and Cancer. 2013 Sep;60(9):1411-7. Rudzinski ER, Teot LA, Anderson JR, Moore JA, Bridge JA, Barr FG, Gastier-Foster JM, Skapek SX, Hawkins DS, Parham DM. The dense pattern of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a lesion easily confused with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma: A report from the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group. American Journal of Clinical Pathology. 2013, Jul;140(1):82-90. Rudzinski ER, Anderson JR, Lyden ER et al. Myogenin, AP2β, NOS-1 and HMGA2 are surrogate markers of fusion status in rhabdomyosarcoma: A report from the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group. American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 2014, May;38(5):654-659. Rudzinski ER, Anderson JR, Hawkins DH et al. The World Health Organization classification of skeletal muscle tumors in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma: A report from the Children's Oncology Group. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. 2015;139(10):1281-7. Arnold MA, Anderson JR, Gastier-Foster JM, Barr FG, Skapek SX, Hawkins DS, Raney RB, Parham DM, Teot LA, Rudzinski ER and Walterhouse DO. Histology, Fusion Status and Outcome in Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma with Low-Risk Clinical Features: A Report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Pediatric Blood and Cancer. 2016;63(4):634-9. Siegele B, Roberts J, Black JO, Rudzinski ER, Vargas SO, Galambos C. DUX4 Immunohistochemistry is a highly sensitive and specific marker for CIC-DUX4 fusion-positive round cell tumor. Am J Surg Pathol 2017;41(3):423-429. Pinto N, Park JR, Murphy E, Yearley J, McClanahan T, Annamalai L, Hawkins DS, Rudzinski ER. Patterns of PD-1, PDL-1 and PDL-2 expression in pediatric solid tumors. Pediatric Blood and Cancer 2017 64(11) Rudzinski ER, Anderson JR, Ch YY, et al. Histology, fusion status and outcome in metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Pediatric Blood and Cancer 2017 64(12) Davis JL, Lockwood CM, Tsuchiya K, Albert C, Hawkins DS, Rudzinski ER. Infantile NTRK-associated mesenchymal tumors. Pediatric and Developmental Pathology. 2018 21(1):68-78. Drilon A, Laetsch TW, Kummar S, DuBois SG, Lassen UN, Demetri GD, Nathenson M, Doebele RC, Farago AF, Pappo AS, Turpin B, Dowlati A, Brose MS, Mascarenhas L, Federman N, Berlin J, El-Deiry WS, Baik C, Deeken J, Boni V, Nagasubramanian R, Taylor M, Rudzinski ER, Meric-Bernstam F, Sohal DPS, Ma P, Raez LE, Hechtman JF, Benayed R, Ladanyi M, Tuch BB, Ebata K, Cruickshank S, Ku N, Cox MC, Hawkins DS, Hong DS, Hyman DM. Efficacy of Larotrectinib in TRK fusion-positive adult and pediatric cancers. New England Journal of Medicine 2018 Feb 22;387(8):731-739. Laetsch TW, Dubois SG, Turpin B, Federman N, Mascarenhas L, Albert CM, Nagasubramanian R, Davis JL, Rudzinski ER, Feraco A, Tuch BB, Ebata KT, Reynods M, Smith S, Cruickshank S, Cox MC, Pappo AS, Hawkins DS. Larotrectinib for paediatric solid tumours harbouring NTRK gene fusions: a multicenter, open-label, phase 1 study. Lancet Oncology. 2018;19(5):705-714. Rudzinski ER, Lockwood CM, Stohr BA, Vargas SO, Sheridan R, Black JO, Rajaram V, Laetsch TW, Davis JL. Pan-Trk immunohistochemistry identifies NTRK rearrangements in pediatric mesenchymal tumors. Am J Surg Pathol 2018;42(7):927-935. Hawkins DS, Chi YY, Anderson JR, Tian J, Arndt CAS, Bomgaars L, Donaldson SS, Hayes-Jordan A, Mascarenhas L, McCarville MB, McCune JS, McCowage G, Million L, Morris CD, Parham DM, Rodeberg DA, Rudzinski ER, Shnorhavorian M, Spunt SL, Skapek SX, Teot LA, Wolden S, Yock TI, Meyer WH. Addition of vincristine and irinotecan (VI) to vincristine, dactinomycin and cyclophosphamide (VAC) does not improve outcome for intermediate-risk rhabdomyosarcoma: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2018;36(27):2770-2777. Davis JL, Lockwood DM, Stohr B, Boecking C, Al-Ibraheemi A, DuBois SG, Vargas SO, Black JO, Cox MC, Luquette M, Turpin B, Szabo S, Laetsch TW, Albert CM, Parham DM, Hawkins DS, Rudzinski ER. Expanding the spectrum of pediatric NTRK-rearranged mesenchymal tumors. Am J Surg Pathol, epub ahead of print, Dec 24 2018.

Robin Jones is a medical oncologist specialising in the treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas and Head of the Sarcoma Unit at The Royal Marsden. He has experience in conducting Phase I, II and III trials, as well translational studies in sarcomas. Professor Jones trained in medical oncology at The Royal Marsden and between 2010 and 2014 he was Head of the Sarcoma Program at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. His main research interest focuses on clinical trials and translational research in sarcomas

Prof. Rolfo is the Associate Director of Clinical Research at the Center for Thoracic Oncology, Tisch Cancer Institute in Mount Sinai System . In addition, he is Professor of Medicine at the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. From April 2018 to May 2021 he was serving as Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology and Director of Early Clinical Trials at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC), in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. In addition, he was appointed Professor of Medicine at the Division of Oncology at Maryland University, School of Medicine. Prof. Rolfo is Medical Oncologist focused in Thoracic Oncology, Drug Development and Translational Oncology. From 2012 to March 2018 he was working as Director of the Phase I - Early Clinical Trials Unit, Director of the Clinical Trials Management Program at Antwerp University Hospital, and Senior Staff member of Thoracic Oncology Cluster at Antwerp University Hospital in Belgium. In addition he is Professor of Oncology at Antwerp University in the Center for Oncological Research (CORE) in Antwerp, Belgium, Professor Rolfo graduated with a degree in medicine from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina in 1996; he then studied at the University of Milan and the National Cancer Institute of Milan, Italy, receiving European Oncology Board certification in 2003, followed by Spanish Board Certification in Medical Oncology in 2007. He obtained a PhD and Doctor Europaeus in Clinical and Experimental Oncology Research cum laude from the University of Palermo, Italy in 2009 under the direction of Professor Rosell, and a Master of Business Health Administration from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain in 2010. He worked as clinical researcher in the Spanish Lung Cancer Group in Mallorca, Spain for 8 years. He is actively working on drug development and Lung cancer & Mesothelioma treatment. His research is focused in molecular oncology and Immunotherapy in Thoracic Oncology and in a pan-tumoral approach, using new techniques in liquid biopsies, specifically in exosome isolation and circulating free tumour DNA. His group identify ALK translocation in exosomes in NSCLC patients, showed, for the first time, the videos of labeled EVs uptake by living lung cancer cells. He is currently working in the identification of new biomarkers involved in immunotherapy and TKI drug-resistance. In Drug development Prof. Rolfo contributed to the development of several compounds including Erlotinib, pharmacokinetics of Olaparib, Entrectinib among several drugs in early phase.

Prof. Christian Rolfo has received financial support/sponsorship for research support, consultation, or speaker fees from the following companies:

Archer Dx, AstraZeneca, BMS, Boston Pharmaceuticals, Blueprint, Eisai, Inivata, Guardant Health, MD Serono, Mirati, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche.