Neuroblastoma is one of the most common and highly malignant form of cancers in children. Most children have disseminated disease at diagnosis and have poor prognosis. CCF has sponsored two research projects carried out by Dr. Nechaeva and others.

1. Controlling the aggressive behavior of neuroblastoma: Two pairs of genes (nm23-1 and nm23-2) control the aggressive behavior of neuroblastoma cells. The findings of our researchers show that, in the laboratory setting, the tumor cells with over-expression of nm23-1 gene respond favorably to certain drugs and become more differentiated (less aggressive).
   
   
2. Understanding how cancer cells die: Cancer cells undergo what is called apoptosis (or programmed cell death) in response to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This phenomenon is under the control of various proteins in the cell. Our researchers have found that the absence of a protein called caspase may make the cell resistant to the apoptosis-promoting factors; thus chemotherapy or radiation will not be able to kill such cells. These findings on two of the most important aspects of cancer cells may have profound implications on the future treatment of this deadly cancer. With the help of CCF we hope to continue our research in this area.

List of publications and presentations on CCF-sponsored research

1. Minimal residual disease in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Feasibility of large scale studies. S.Mayer, S.Jayabose, O.Tugal, C.Sandoval, F.Ozkaynak, G.Rovera. Presented at the 10th annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology. San Francisco, CA. September 18-20, 1997.
   
   
2. Overexpression of catalytically inactive mutant nm23-H1 and nm23-H2 proteins in human neuroblastoma cells. M. Nechaeva, C.Sandoval, S.Jayabose, J.Backer. Presented at the 89th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. March 28-April 1, 1998. New Orleans, LA.
   
   
3. Quantification of leukemia clone-specific antigen gene rearrangements by a single-step PCR and fluorescence-based detection method. S.Mayer, J.Giamelli, C.Sandoval, O.Tugal, F.Ozkaynak, O.Tugal, G.Rovera, S.Jayabose. (submitted for publication).
   
   
4. Overexpression of nm23-1 in IMR-32 human neuroblastoma cells enhances responsiveness to differentiation stimuli. M. Nechaeva, N. Kamel, C.Sandoval, S.Jayabose, J. Backer. (submitted for publication).
   
   
5. Apoptosis in NK human neuroblastoma cells lacking caspases-3,-7, and -8. M. Nechaeva, C.Sandoval, S.Jayabose, J.Backer. (submitted for publication).