ZERO: Giving kids with cancer the best possible chance

Since 2021, AGRF has been part of a world-leading initiative called the Zero Childhood Cancer Program (ZERO). Led by Children’s Cancer Institute and Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital, ZERO is Australia’s first precision medicine program for children with cancer and includes all nine of Australia’s children’s hospitals together with 22 research partners.

AGRF is a key partner in ZERO, providing extensive multi-omic sequencing data (including Whole Genome Sequencing and RNA Sequencing) for each child enrolled in the program. This data is analysed at Children’s Cancer Institute and used to generate a report for each child’s oncologist, available to help guide everything from diagnosis to treatment.

This year, results from almost 400 children with high-risk cancer who went through the ZERO program were published in the leading journal, Nature Medicine, showing that the precision medicine approach taken by ZERO is significantly improving outcomes. In fact, the 2-year survival of children who received a treatment recommended by ZERO was more than double that of children who received standard therapy.

Since 2017, well over 1500 children have been enrolled in ZERO. One of these children is Jack Kennelly, who was only three years old when he was diagnosed with cancer. After displaying uncharacteristic lethargy, then head pain and vomiting, his parents decided to take him to hospital where a scan was done, revealing a tumour growing in his brain.

Following his enrolment in ZERO, Jack’s tumour was analysed and found to be a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. Normally found in muscle tissue, this diagnosis was extremely rare; in fact, Jack’s was the only known case in Australia. The genomic analysis also found that his tumour was caused by a genetic mutation known as a DICER1 variant. This information proved critical in enabling Jack’s doctors to work out the best treatment strategy.

All in all, Jack had nine surgeries, six rounds of chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation therapy. Today, he loves being at home with his family, though he still needs to return to hospital regularly for checkups. Jack’s parents are extremely grateful for ZERO and know that without it, they may well have lost their precious little boy.

At the end of 2023, ZERO expanded to become available to all Australians aged 0 to 18. It is very exciting to see the impact this has on survival rates over the coming years.