Investigators at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles have developed and tested a new biomarker assay for quantifying disease and detecting the presence of neuroblastoma even when standard evaluations yield negative results for the disease. In a study, led by Araz Marachelian, MD, of the Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, researchers provide the first systematic comparison of standard imaging evaluations versus the new assay that screens for five different neuroblastoma-associated genes and determine that the new assay improves disease assessment and provides prediction of disease progression. Results of the study were published on May 30, 2017 in Clinical Cancer Research. The article is titled “Expression of Five Neuroblastoma Genes in Bone Marrow or Blood of Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Neuroblastoma Provides a New Biomarker for Disease and Prognosis.” Neuroblastoma is a cancer of the nervous system that exists outside the brain and typically is diagnosed in children 5 years or age or younger. Forty-five percent of patients have high-risk, metastatic tumors (stage 4) when diagnosed. While children with neuroblastoma often respond to therapy and many are declared to be in a "remission" based on standard tests, many will still relapse.
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