Neuroblastoma is the most common tumor in infants younger than one year of age and a common solid tumor found in children. Neuroblastoma accounts for 7-10 percent of childhood cancers. It is a solid tumor that arises in a part of the nervous system outside of the brain.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital says that Neuroblastoma tumors have been successfully treated in the lab with genetically modified cells that sought out and activated a chemotherapy drug placed directly at the cancer cells.
The chemotherapy drug, called CPT-11, is already used to treat cancers, doctors and scientists already know how the drugs behaves in humans. This should make it easier to translate the lab findings to the clinic. The researchers showed that the modified cells migrated to tumors regardless of how small the tumors were or where they were located in the body.
The homing ability of these cells, called neural stem-progenitor cells (NSPCs), can be used to target solid tumors that have metastasized. The researchers based their new treatment on work previously reported that showed certain NSPCs have a natural tendency to seek out damaged or cancerous areas in the brain.
1. This is an interesting way of attacking neuroblastoma. In the bizarre pathway from bench to bedside I only hope and pray that the clinicians involved remember that there are young adults fighting neuroblastoma. My son has grown up with chronic recurring neuroblastoma. He has bravely tried and trailblazed just about every treatment under the sun. Presently a twenty-two year old college student with active disease, he has met each challenge with the same saintly optimism. I once thought my heart could only be broken once, but God in his Providence has let mine be broken countless times during my sons ten year battle. Age eligibility requirements of clinical trials for young adults with pediatric cancers are a constant roadblock. I only hope that research like this can bring a light at the end of our tunnel. Age requirements should be written to encompass date of original diagnosis. The countless treatments that my son has endured cannot end with him being shut out at the clinical window. David
Posted at 5:30AM on Dec 24th 2006 by David J. Kay