Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet and Lund University in Sweden have identified a new neuroblastoma treatment strategy, an aggressive form of child cancer. By combining two antioxidant inhibitors, they have converted cancer cells into mice into healthy nerve cells. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Neuroblastoma is a type of childhood cancer that affects the nervous system and is the leading cause of cancer -related death in young children. Some patients have a good prognosis, but those with metastatic tumors can often be treated despite modern combinations of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Children who often survive have lifelong cognitive difficulties due to hard treatment, so there is a great need for new forms of treatments for children with neuroblastoma. “
Marie Arsenian Henriksson, Professor, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet
Transformation of cancer cells
Differentiation therapy is a method of treatment used in neuroblastoma that aims to convert cancer cells into more mature and healthy cells. The problem with current retinoic acid differentiation is that many patients do not respond to treatment and about half develop resistance.
In collaboration with researchers at Lund University, Marie Arsenian Henriksson’s research team has shown that the suspension of two specific enzymes, PRDX6 and GSTP1, could be an alternative to the treatment of retinic acid.
Ripen in healthy neurons
Neuroblastoma is characterized by high oxidative stress due to active metabolism in cancer cells. Therefore, tumors depend on antioxidant enzymes such as PRDX6 and GSTP1 for stress management and avoiding cell death. The high levels of these enzymes are associated with a poorer prognosis.
“When we inhibit these enzymes in cellular crops as well as mice models, some of the tumor cells die, while others mature in active, healthy neurons, reducing tumor growth,” says Judit LiaƱo-Ponnery, Researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Biology.
Should be tested in children
In the next step, treatment should be tested in a clinical trial to investigate its safety and effectiveness in children. One of the inhibitors has received an orphan drug definition of drugs from the US Food and Drug Administration to treat a different diagnosis of adults, making him a highly promising drug candidate, according to scientists.
The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Cancer Fund, Radiumhemmet Research Funds and the Karolinska Institutet.
