A new target which may be used in the therapy of neuroblastoma was identified by Scientists from University of Liverpool. This study could accelerate the development of new drugs against neuroblastoma. Their finding was published in Cancer Research.

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children and a cancer that has a high potential to metastasize. In 40% of high-risk neuroblastoma cases, amplification of the MYCN (MYCN-A) oncogene has been found as the oncogenic event responsible for aggressive progression and poor clinic outcome. The machanisms by which MYCN promotes tumorigenesis are complex and linked primarily to its transcriptions activity,upregulating the expression of a large variety of genes involved in proliferation, survival, differentiation, DNA repair, drug resistance, and survival.

In this study, researchers have shown that altered expression of sulfotransferases in human neuroblastoma cells with higher levels of Sulf-2 expression, a specific feature of MYCN-amplified cells(MYCN-A cells) that represent a particularly aggressive subclass. Sulf-2 overexpression in neuroblastoma cells lacking MYCN amplification (MYCN-NA cells) increased their in vitro survival. They also confirmed , in two different patient cohorts, the association in expression patterns of Sulf-2 and MYCN and determined that Sulf-2 overexpression predicted poor outcomes in a nonidependent manner with MYCN.

This finding defines Sulf-2 as a novel positive regulator of neuroblastoma pathogenicity that contributes to MYCN oncogenicity.

Reference:

Solari V, Borriello L, Turcatel G, et al. MYCN-Dependent Expression of Sulfatase-2 Regulates Neuroblastoma Cell Survival[J]. Cancer research, 2014, 74(21): 5999-6009.