Originating from the embryonic neural crest, neuroblastoma is the most common extra-cranial solid cancer type in children. Its broad spectrum of clinical outcomes includes rapidly progressive malignant course, but also occasional spontaneous regression, reflecting an underlying inherent cellular heterogeneity that remains poorly understood. As current treatments often do not lead to tumor eradication, there is a need to better define therapy-resistant neuroblastoma and to identify new modulatory molecules. We previously performed a first comprehensive flow cytometric characterization of surface molecule expression in neuroblastoma cell lines. Ongoing studies in the lab expand on that baseline to further resolve cellular heterogeneity by flow cytometric markers, and to identify small molecule modulators of neuroblastoma phenotype. Such improved pharmacological screens may aid in developing novel therapeutic remedies for neuroblastoma diagnosis and treatment.

References

Ferlemann FC, Menon V, Condurat AL, Rößler J, Pruszak J (2017). Surface marker profiling of SH-SY5Y cells enables small molecule screens identifying BMP4 as a modulator of neuroblastoma differentiation. Sci Rep 7, 13612. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13497-8

Condurat et al.: Verteporfin-induced proteotoxicity impairs cell homeostasis and survival in neuroblastoma subtypes independent of YAP/TAZ expression. doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2151532/v1 (preprint, not yet peer reviewed).