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Influence of neuroblastoma stage on serum‐based detection of MYCN amplification
Author(s) -
Combaret Valerie,
Hogarty Michael D.,
London Wendy B.,
McGrady Patrick,
Iacono Isabelle,
Brejon Stephanie,
Swerts Katrien,
Noguera Rosa,
Gross Nicole,
Rousseau Raphael,
Puisieux Alain
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.22009
Subject(s) - neuroblastoma , medicine , stage (stratigraphy) , oncology , circulating tumor dna , disease , clinical significance , neoplasm , oncogene , tumor stage , cancer , cancer research , pathology , biology , genetics , paleontology , cell cycle , cell culture
Background MYCN oncogene amplification has been defined as the most important prognostic factor for neuroblastoma (NB), the most common solid extracranial neoplasm in children. High copy numbers are strongly associated with rapid tumor progression and poor outcome, independently of tumor stage or patient age, and this has become an important factor in treatment stratification. Procedure By real‐time quantitative PCR analysis, we evaluated the clinical relevance of circulating MYCN DNA of 267 patients with locoregional or metastatic NB in children less than 18 months of age. Results For patients in this age group with INSS stage 4 or 4S NB and stage 3 patients, serum‐based determination of MYCN DNA sequences had good sensitivity (85%, 83%, and 75% respectively) and high specificity (100%) when compared to direct tumor gene determination. In contrast, the approach showed low sensitivity patients with stages 1 and 2 disease. Conclusion Our results show that the sensitivity of the serum‐based MYCN DNA sequence determination depends on the stage of the disease. However, this simple, reproducible assay may represent a reasonably sensitive and very specific tool to assess tumor MYCN status in cases with stage 3 and metastatic disease for whom a wait and see strategy is often recommended. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;53:329–331. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.