Neuroblastoma is the second most common solid tumor in children. Since the seminal discovery of the role of amplification of the MYCN oncogene in the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma in the 1980s, much focus has been on the contribution of genetic alterations in the progression of this cancer. However it is now clear that not only genetic events play a role but that the tumor microenvironment (TME...

Neuroblastoma is the most common extra-cranial solid tumor of childhood. It originates in cells of the neural crest, and so can be found anywhere along the paravertebral sympathetic chain or in the adrenal gland. In the last 15 years, new developments in the genetics and biology of neuroblastoma, have led to a better understanding of the natural history and prognostic features of this cancer. T...

Glycosphingolipid analyses were performed on three clonal lines of the mouse Cl300 neuroblastoma (NZA, NA, and NB41A) and on three neuroblastoma X L cell hybrid lines (NLI-15A, NLI-7A, and NLI-11A) differing in teeir membrane electrical activities. Striking variations Of ganglioside but not of neutral glycosphingolipid patterns were observed in the neuroblastoma lines. No differences were obser...

Neuroblastomas constitute a major cause of cancer-related deaths in young children. In recent years, a number of translation-inhibiting enzymes have been evaluated for killing neuroblastoma cells. Here we investigated the potential vulnerability of human neuroblastoma cells to protease activity derived from botulinum neurotoxin type C. We show that following retinoic acid treatment, human neuro...

Background: Neuroblastoma is a rare pediatric cancer that affects thousands of children worldwide. Information stored in electronic health records can be useful source data forin silicoscientific studies about this disease, carried out both by humans and computational machines. Several open datasets derived from anonymized patients diagnosed with neuroblastoma are available the...

Thymic neuroblastoma is a rare tumor with only few reports in modern literature. Whereas most data is taken from childhood neuroblastoma, little is known about the characteristics of the disease in the adult and elderly population. There are significant differences between adult and childhood neuroblastoma which are reviewed below. We report a case of a 62-year-old male who presented with neuro...

An in vitro methylcellulose technique was used in an attempt to culture neuroblastoma cells from 25 bone marrows from eight children with neuroblastoma. Colonies appeared within 5 days in histologically positive bone marrows. Light microscopy, linearity study, and marker study provided evidence for the neuroblastoma origin of the colonies. These colonies could be distinguished from other coloni...

INTRODUCTION Children with neuroblastoma have widely divergent outcomes, ranging from cure in >90% of patients with low risk disease to <50% for those with high risk disease. Recent research has shed light on the biology of neuroblastoma, allowing for more accurate risk stratification and treatment reduction in many cases, although newer treatment strategies for children with high-risk and rela...

Retinoids are analogues of vitamin A, with documented activity against various malignant cell types. Neuroblastoma is a childhood tumour of the sympathetic nervous system that shows a complex clinical and biological heterogeneity, often with poor outcome despite intensive multimodal therapy. The aim of the thesis was to investigate effects of retinoid treatment in vitro on human neuroblastoma c...

Neuroblastoma, the second most common solid tumor in children, frequently metastasizes to the bone marrow and the bone. Neuroblastoma cells present in the bone marrow stimulate the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) by bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) to activate osteoclasts. Here we have examined whether stromal-derived IL-6 also has a paracrine effect on neuroblastoma cells. An analysis of th...