Neuroblastoma has been one of those rare diseases that affects the youth and nobody messes with our future generation!
This form of cancer weasels its way and burrows deep in the small glands of kidneys, the belly, chest, neck, pelvis and bone. The worst part is that kids as young as five years old are the ones that usually fall victim. To learn more about neuroblastoma and it’s painful symptoms, click here.
To stop being such a Debbie Downer, here’s the good news! It looks like miracle worker pediatrics have been digging deep into this childhood menace and have discovered several gene variants that increase the risk of an aggressive form of that disease. While this may sound deadly, this new find will actually help doctors diagnose subtypes of the disease.
John M. Maris, MD, a pediatric oncologist at CHOP’s Center for Childhood Cancer Research said,
“We already knew that 11q deletions are biomarkers that predict poor outcomes in neuroblastoma. This new research helps us to more precisely predict how a neuroblastoma tumor will behave, so it improves our diagnostic capabilities.”
Neuroblastoma is becoming one of the highest sources of cancer deaths in kids and the number is growing. The good folks at CHOP also discovered six other genetic risk variants for this disease which sheds light on its complexities.
There’s more work and further investigation to be done but the more they learn how the foe works from the inside, the better chances they have at pinpointing its weakness and vanquishing it.
