Overview

Neuroblastoma is a common childhood cancer and is responsible for 15% of all cancer-related deaths in children. In some patients, neuroblastoma can be successfully treated with surgery. Unfortunately, in half of the children with neuroblastoma, the tumour is very aggressive and has spread to other parts of the body even at diagnosis. Two out of 3 patients die from high-risk neuroblastoma. Currently, the team is focusing on studying "telomeres" in neuroblastoma. The research is a collaborative effort with the Children's Medical Research Institute's Cancer Research Unit. Telomeres are special structures that protect the DNA of a cell. As part of normal ageing, telomeres get shorter and shorter to a point when the cell eventually dies. In contrast, cancer cells can grow indefinitely by maintaining the length of telomeres and achieve immortality. Studying telomeres in neuroblastoma tumours with different behaviours will help us understand why some, but not all, of these tumours behave so aggressively. Based on this knowledge, better treatments can be designed to improve the cure rate.

Our laboratory is using neuroblastoma cells cultured in the laboratory as well as tumours collected from neuroblastoma patients to:

• Identify mechanisms used by these tumour cells to maintain telomere length
• Investigate whether these mechanisms affect patient's outcome and determine whether this can be used as a marker to choose the most appropriate treatment for future neuroblastoma patients
• Detect the genetic changes in relation to telomere maintenance mechanisms in neuroblastoma tumours

"As a paediatric oncologist, I have experienced the joy of curing a child with cancer and the disappointment of losing a child to cancer. High quality research in the laboratory is crucial to advances in cancer treatment and improvement in treatment outcomes. Not only does it mean curing more children with cancer, it also means less long-term complications resulting from cancer treatment are seen in survivors of childhood cancer."

Dr Loretta Lau
Leader, Neuroblastoma Research Program