Why Is Aneuploidy Associated with Favorable Outcome in Neuroblastoma?

Abstract

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer, onset with localized as well as metastatic disease. Localized tumors usually show a high content of aneuploid cells. It is suggested that aneuploid cells with numerical copy number variation (CNV) are generated by chromosome instability (CIN). Patients with a localized tumor respond well to the therapy and show a good outcome. On the contrary, patients with a metastatic tumor have worse outcomes and the cells with structural CNV show high levels of CIN. It is proposed that a favorable outcome in patients with localized disease is associated to the grade of CIN.

Keywords

• neuroblastoma
• tumorigenesis
• chromosome instability
• aneuploidy