Topotecan distribution in an anephric infant with therapy resistant bilateral Wilms tumor with a novel germline WT1 gene mutation

Abstract

The therapeutic strategy for bilateral Wilms tumor (WT) remains a challenge. Especially in cases with chemotherapy resistant disease, bilateral nephrectomy is sometimes inevitable. For optimal cure rates stage V WT patients benefit from adjuvant treatment; however, there are limited data available on chemotherapy pharmacokinetics in anephric children. In this report, we describe a 10-month old girl with bilateral Wilms tumor and a novel germline WT1 gene mutation. This patient hardly showed any response on preoperative chemotherapy, and ultimately, underwent sequential bilateral tumor-nephrectomy. Subsequently, during peritoneal dialysis, she received topotecan as adjuvant chemotherapy based on plasma levels, indicating that this is a reasonable option as adjuvant treatment in therapy-resistant Wilms tumor patients after bilateral nephrectomy. This case showed a novel germline WT1 gene mutation of which the correlation with resistant phenotype has to be confirmed in larger cohorts of WT patients.