EXPLORE-NB

This research is about improving diagnosis of a type of cancer called neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a tumor of the peripheral nervous system and affects mainly children. Currently, one of the treatments used is immunotherapy, which uses the bodys immune system to fight the cancer. However, this treatment is not always effective because the environment around the tumor can suppress the immune system and promote the survival and growth of the tumor. This is especially true in the bone marrow, which is often where the cancer progresses. Researchers have found that changes in certain regulatory DNA regions in immune cells (monocytes, NK, T-lymphocytes) within the bone marrow can create an environment that promotes the tumor and suppresses the immune system. We believe that these epigenetic changes can be detected and used as a liquid biopsy test to diagnose and monitor the progression of the tumor and the suppression of the immune system. To test this, EXPLORE-NB researchers will collect bone marrow samples from patients at diagnosis and at relapse, and analyze these samples to identify specific epigenetic changes associated with the tumor and the immune system. We will then design a diagnostic test based on these findings and validate this test using additional bone marrow samples. This approach is novel because it uses state-of-the-art single cell technologies to develop a simple, targeted test for the detection of changes that are currently not assessed in clinical trials. This could potentially improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments for neuroblastoma. EXPLORE-NB is a multi-national project. The Austrian subproject is led by Dr. Sabine Taschner-Mandl (St. Anna Childrens Cancer Research Institute, Vienna), who specializes in the biology of neuroblastoma.