1. ¹Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group and St Anna Children's Hospital, Vienna, Austria
2. ²Associazione Italiana di Ematologia ed Oncologia Pediatrica and Centro Ricerca M Tettamanti, Clinica Pediatrica, Università Milano-Bicocca, Monza; Italy
3. ³Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group and Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Germany
4. ⁴Medical Research Council/NCRI United Kingdom Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Working Group and The Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, UK
5. ⁵European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer – Childhood Leukemia Cooperative Group and Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium
6. ⁶National Cancer Research Institute, United Kingdom Childhood Leukaemia Working Party and University of Southampton, UK
7. ⁷Department of Pediatrics, Hematology and Oncology, Children's Oncology Group and University of Chicago, USA
8. ⁸St Jude Children's Research Hospital and The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA

Correspondence: Dr H Gadner, Children's Cancer Research Institute/St Anna Kinderspital, Kinderspitalg, 6 A-1090, Vienna, Austria. E-mail: helmut.gadner@stanna.at

Received 19 September 2005; Accepted 23 September 2005; Published online 10 November 2005.

Abstract

The International Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Working Group, the so-called 'Ponte di Legno Workshop' has led to substantial progress in international collaboration in leukemia research. On April 27–28, 2005, the 8th Meeting was held in Vienna, Austria, to continue the discussions about special common treatment elements in randomized clinical trials, ethical and clinical aspects of therapy. Furthermore, collaborative projects of clinical relevance with special emphasis on rare genetic subtypes of Childhood ALL were established. The following report summarizes the achievements and aspects of possible future cooperation.