Neuroblastoma

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Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid cancer in childhood and the most common cancer in infancy, with an annual incidence of about 650 new cases per year in the US. Close to 50 percent of neuroblastoma cases occur in children younger than two years old. It is a neuroendocrine tumor, arising from any neural crest element of the sympathetic nervous system or SNS. It most frequently originates in one of the adrenal glands, but can also develop in nerve tissues in the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis.

Neuroblastoma is one of the few human malignancies known to demonstrate spontaneous regression from an undifferentiated state to a completely benign cellular appearance.

A disease exhibiting extreme heterogeneity, neuroblastoma is stratified into three risk categories: low, intermediate, and high risk. Low-risk disease is most common in infants and highly curable with observation only or surgery, whereas high-risk disease is difficult to cure even with the most intensive multi-modal therapies available.

Note: Esthesioneuroblastoma, also known as olfactory neuroblastoma, is believed to arise from the olfactory epithelium and its classification remains controversial. However, since it is not a sympathetic nervous system malignancy it is a distinct clinical entity and is not to be confused with neuroblastoma.

For more information about Neuroblastoma, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with neuroblastoma

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Antitumor activity of nutlin-3 in neuroblastoma with wild-type p53

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The small-molecule inhibitor nutlin-3 may be a viable treatment option for neuroblastoma patients with wild-type p53 activity, according to a new study published online November 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer In ...


Long-term health and social outcomes for neuroblastoma survivors

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jul 31, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Survivors of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma are eight times more likely to have chronic health conditions, less likely to be married, and more likely to have lower incomes than their siblings, according to a study published ...


Protein that promotes cancer cell growth identified

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jul 24, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have found that the Caspase-8 protein, long known to play a major role in promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis), helps relay signals that can cause cancer ...


Gene findings revealing reasons for neuroblastoma risk

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jun 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Two new studies from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia advance the search for genetic events that result in neuroblastoma, a puzzling, often-deadly type of childhood cancer.


Researchers identify gene that regulates tumors in neuroblastoma

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jun 01, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified a gene that may play a key role in regulating tumor progression in neuroblastoma, a form of cancer usually found in young children. Scientists hope the finding ...


Immunotherapy effective against neuroblastoma in children

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created May 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A phase III study has shown that adding an antibody-based therapy that harnesses the body's immune system resulted in a 20 percent increase in the number of children living disease-free for at least two years with neuroblastoma. ...


Novel cancer drug reduces neuroblastoma growth by 75 percent

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found a new drug that restricts the growth of neuroblastoma, a childhood brain cancer. The pre-clinical study was ...


Commonly used ulcer drugs may offer treatment potential in Alzheimer's disease

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Apr 22, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In a new study, published in the May issue of Elsevier's Experimental Neurology, scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered that drugs commonly used to treat ulcers have significant neuroprotective proper ...


Biomarker associated with poor outcome in aggressive childhood cancer

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Apr 06, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Results from a new study identify a biomarker that may be useful for predicting the outcome of treatment for neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in young children. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 7th ...


Engineered virus targets and kills apparent cancer stem cells in neuroblastoma

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jan 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

After identifying an apparent population of cancer stem cells for neuroblastoma, researchers successfully used a reprogrammed herpes virus to block tumor formation in mice by targeting and killing the cells.


Scientists find novel use for old compound in cancer treatment

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jan 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

The compound, α-difluoromethylornithine or DFMO, targets the activity of a specific enzyme and, even in very limited doses, is effective in protecting against the malignancy in animal models. The study was published ...


New insight into aggressive childhood cancer

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jan 05, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A new study reveals critical molecular mechanisms associated with the development and progression of human neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in young children. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 6th ...




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