Comprehensive tumor profiling identified actionable changes and influenced therapy in a meaningful proportion of pediatric oncology patients treated at Sheba Medical Center.
A study from Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, and Reichman University has demonstrated the practical value of next-generation sequencing in pediatric oncology.
Published online on August 13, 2026, in Pediatric Research, the analysis found that nearly one quarter of the children included in the study benefited from treatment decisions informed by genomic testing.
Childhood cancers are rare and biologically diverse.
Some tumors cannot be fully characterized by appearance under the microscope alone, and treatment options may be limited when the disease returns or does not respond to standard therapy.
Next-generation sequencing, or NGS, can examine many cancer-related genes at the same time. This may help doctors identify alterations that refine a diagnosis, clarify prognosis, or point toward a targeted treatment.
What the Israeli team found
The researchers retrospectively analyzed 97 pediatric cancer patients who underwent NGS at Sheba Medical Center between 2016 and 2021.
The tumors showed a heterogeneous range of somatic alterations, including recurrent variants in genes involved in DNA repair, regulation of the cell cycle, and cellular signaling pathways.
The study also illustrates how rapidly genomic medicine evolves.
Several variants initially classified as being of uncertain significance were later reclassified as pathogenic as scientific knowledge expanded.
This means that previous genomic reports may sometimes merit reinterpretation, especially when a child’s disease course changes or new treatment options become available.
According to the study’s impact statement, nearly 25% of patients benefited from NGS-informed therapy.
The researchers also identified molecular features that differed from patterns described in large international cohorts, highlighting the importance of including diverse populations in pediatric cancer genomics.
From a test result to a treatment decision
An actionable mutation does not automatically mean that a suitable drug is available or appropriate.
Doctors must consider the strength of the evidence, the child’s diagnosis and age, previous treatments, the location and stage of the disease, potential toxicity, access to a drug or clinical trial, and whether the alteration is truly driving the tumor.
The study supports routine consideration of comprehensive genomic profiling at diagnosis, particularly for high-risk or difficult-to-classify tumors.
It also supports multidisciplinary molecular tumor boards, where pediatric oncologists, geneticists, pathologists, bioinformaticians, and other specialists interpret complex findings together.
Because this was a retrospective single-center analysis, prospective studies are still needed to determine which testing strategies produce the greatest improvement in long-term outcomes.
Nevertheless, the finding that almost one in four patients received a clinically meaningful benefit shows how precision oncology is already influencing care for children with cancer in Israel.
Sapir Medical Clinic can assist families seeking a pediatric oncology second opinion in Israel, including review of pathology, imaging, molecular test results, and available treatment or clinical-trial options at leading children’s hospitals.