Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22326931›Full record

ReviewChemico-biological interactions2012

Perspectives on the causes of childhood leukemia.

Joseph Wiemels

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Chemico-biological interactions, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
111citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
32.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

111 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 513 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Role of Maternal Diet in the Risk of Childhood Acute Leukemia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Allergies and Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case-Control Study and Meta-analysis.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2018
    Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Pooled it
  9. Association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a meta-analysis based on 51 case-control studies.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2015
    Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Effect of GSTM1 null genotype on risk of childhood acute leukemia: a meta-analysis.Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine · 2014
    Pooled it
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Observational
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. Molecular Reactivity in Maternal Pregnancy Blood and Neonatal Dried Blood Spots Is Associated with the Risk of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
    Article

51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Joseph WiemelsDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, Helen Diller Cancer Center Research Building, 1450 3rd Street, HD274, San Francisco, CA 94158, United States. joe.wiemels@ucsf.edu
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center · US

Funding

Genome-Wide Association Study of Childhood Leukemia by Hispanic StatusR01CA155461 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI MA, XIAOMEI, WIEMELS, JOSEPH LEO · 2011 to 2014
$4.1M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA155461NCI NIH HHS R01CA155461
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Acute leukemia is the most common cancer in children but the causes of the disease in the majority of cases are not known. About 80% are precursor-B cell in origin (CD19+, CD10+), and this immunophenotype has increased in incidence over the past several decades in the Western world. Part of this increase may be due to the introduction of new chemical exposures into the child's environment including parental smoking, pesticides, traffic fumes, paint and household chemicals. However, much of the increase in leukemia rates is likely linked to altered patterns of infection during early childhood development, mirroring causal pathways responsible for a similarly increased incidence of other childhood-diagnosed immune-related illnesses including allergy, asthma, and type 1 diabetes. Factors linked to childhood leukemia that are likely surrogates for immune stimulation include exposure to childcare settings, parity status and birth order, vaccination history, and population mixing. In case-control studies, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is consistently inversely associated with greater exposure to infections, via daycare and later birth order. New evidence suggests also that children who contract leukemia may harbor a congenital defect in immune responder status, as indicated by lower levels of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 at birth in children who grow up to contract leukemia, as well as higher need for clinical care for infections within the first year of life despite having lower levels of exposure to infections. One manifestation of this phenomenon may be leukemia clusters which tend to appear as a leukemia "outbreak" among populations with low herd immunity to a new infection. Critical answers to the etiology of childhood leukemia will require incorporating new tools into traditional epidemiologic approaches - including the classification of leukemia at a molecular scale, better exposure assessments at all points in a child's life, a comprehensive understanding of genetic risk factors, and an appraisal of the interplay between infectious exposures and the status of immune response in individuals.

Indexed as

AdolescentAge FactorsChildChild, PreschoolGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseHumansLeukemiaPhenotype

Identifiers

PMID22326931
PMCPMC3839796
OpenAlexW2042102224

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.