Schwann cells as antineuroblastoma agents

Article Abstract:

The infiltration of Schwann cells into a neuroblastoma may cause the tumor to differentiate into a benign tumor called a ganglioneuroma. Ganglioneuromas are characterized by large numbers of Schwann cells and scientists believed they originated within the tumor. However, a 1996 study revealed that the Schwann cells in 20 ganglioneuroma tissue samples had a different chromosomal composition than the neuronal cells. This indicates that the Schwann cells did not arise within the tumor but infiltrated the tumor from without. The Schwann cells might secrete nerve growth factor and other growth factors that would cause the neuroblastoma to mature into a benign ganglioneuroma. The nature of the chemicals secreted by the tumor that attract the Schwann cells are not known. However, once they are identified, they could be used to treat neuroblastoma, which can be fatal.

Editorial, Schwann cells

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Association between high levels of expression of the TRK gene and favorable outcome in human neuroblastoma

Article Abstract:

High levels of the product of the TRK proto-oncogene may predict a favorable outcome in children suffering from neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a tumor arising in the autonomic nervous system that usually occurs in children. A study examined the levels of messenger RNA encoded by the TRK proto-oncogene in tumor samples from 77 children with from neuroblastoma. Higher levels of TRK messenger RNA were associated with an earlier tumor stage. Eighty-six percent of the patients with high levels of the TRK proto-oncogene product were alive after five years, compared with 14% of those with a low level of TRK proto-oncogene product. The TRK proto-oncogene encodes a main component of a nerve growth factor receptor found in some types of neuroblastomas. Exposure of neuroblastoma cells with the TRK proto-oncogene to nerve growth cell factor caused nerve cell growth.

Proto-oncogenes

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Neuroblastoma--From genetic profiles to clinical challenge

Article Abstract:

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood, accounting for 8 to 10 percent of pediatric cancers, due to which large-scale screening programs were implemented to diagnose the disease in prognostically favorable setting of very young age and localized stage. Findings showed that many neuroblastomas in unscreened populations probably escape detection due to spontaneous regression or differentiation and low-risk cases of disease rarely evolve into stage 4 diseases.

Science & research, New England States, Research, Diagnosis, Cancer in children, Childhood cancer, New England

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