Human pathology

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neuroblastomas

neuroblastoma

Definition: Poorly differentiated type of neuroblastic tumors.

Localization

- soft tissue

- urinary bladder (12891516, 11070482, 10224211)

Variants

- undifferentiated neuroblastoma
- poorly differentiated
- differentiating
- large cell neuroblastoma (14716776)
- ganglioneuroblastoma
- in situ neuroblastoma (16010489)

Age

- neonatal neuroblastoma (fetal neuroblastoma)
- infantile neuroblastoma
- adult neuroblastoma

Cytognetics

- constitutional translocation t(1;17)(p36;q12-21) Ploidy

- hyperdiploidy (or near triploidy)

  • lower stages
  • favorable outcome

- Diploidy is a strong prognostic predictor of outcome.

Molecular biology

- gene amplifications

  • MYCN gene amplification (MYCN-amplified neuroblastomas)
    • amplification of N-myc (MYCN) in neuroblastoma is strongly correlated with loss of 1p36 and gain of 17q.
    • more common in patients older than 1 year with advanced stages of the disease

- gene mutations

- gain of chromosome 17q

  • unbalanced chromosome 17 translocations (14695994)
  • not associated with poor prognosis (14581355)

- LOH - Allelotype: 11912152, 15892104

CGH (16075461, 17823929)

CGH Gains

1q gain
2p24 gainMYCN
12q gain
17q23 gain

CGH Losses

1p32.1 loss
1p36.3 loss25%-52%
3p21.31-3p22.1 loss
4p loss
5q35.2-5q35.3 loss
7q31.2 loss31%
7q34 loss31%
8qcen-q24 loss26%
9q21-9q24.1 loss26%
10p11-p15 loss40%
10q26.11-10q26.12 loss
11q23-25 loss42%
12q24.1 loss26%
14q32 loss37%
16q23.1-16q24.3 loss
18q21.32-18q23 loss
19q loss31% 20p11.21-20p11.23 loss

Genetic subsets (1325279)

- 1. hyperdiploid karyotype (or near-triploid karyotype)
- 2. near-diploid karyotype with no consistent anomalies
- 3. 1p36 LOH or MYCN amplification (or both) with near-diploid or tetraploid karyotype

- A subset of tumors with a clinically benign phenotype showed predominantly whole chromosome gains and losses. (17647283)

- Tumors with MYCN amplification had a unique genomic signature of 1p deletion and 17q gain, but few other rearrangements. (17647283)

- Tumors with an aggressive clinical phenotype without MYCN amplification, showed multiple structural rearrangements. Most notable were deletions of 3p, 4p, and 11q and gain of 1q, 2p, 12q, and 17q. (17647283)

- There is a subset of tumors with an aggressive clinical phenotype and no detectable DNA CNAs. (17647283)

Miscellaneous

- schwannian cells and neuroblastic cells have the same genetic alterations ? (11107110, 11559566)
- CpG-island hypermethylation of gene promoters: 14506696

Predisposition

- abnormal constitutional karyotypes in patients with neuroblastoma

- familial neuroblastoma (12880958)

  • germline mutations of the paired-like homeobox 2B PHOX2B gene (15024693)

- probable excess of neuroblastoma in patients with Turner syndrome (14623457)

Constitutional chromosomal anomalies

- mosaicism for monosomy 22
- 11q interstitial deletion
- pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 at band 9p21
- Robertsonian translocation t(13;14)

- chromosomal rearrangements

  • 1p36
  • 2p23
  • 3q
  • 11q23
  • 15q
  • 1p
  • 2p
  • 9p
  • 11q
  • 16q
  • 17q

Hypermethylation

- Frequent promoter hypermethylation of RASSF1A and CASP8 in neuroblastoma (17064406)

See also

- neuroblastic tumors

  • neuroblastoma
  • ganglioneuroblastoma
  • ganglioneuroma

References

- Michels E, Vandesompele J, De Preter K, Hoebeeck J, Vermeulen J, Schramm A, Molenaar JJ, Menten B, Marques B, Stallings RL, Combaret V, Devalck C, De Paepe A, Versteeg R, Eggert A, Laureys G, Van Roy N, Speleman F. ArrayCGH-based classification of neuroblastoma into genomic subgroups. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2007 Sep 6; PMID: 17823929

- Mosse YP, Diskin SJ, Wasserman N, Rinaldi K, Attiyeh EF, Cole K, Jagannathan J, Bhambhani K, Winter C, Maris JM. Neuroblastomas have distinct genomic DNA profiles that predict clinical phenotype and regional gene expression. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2007 Oct;46(10):936-49. PMID: 17647283

- George RE, Attiyeh EF, Li S, Moreau LA, Neuberg D, Li C, Fox EA, Meyerson M, Diller L, Fortina P, Look AT, Maris JM. Genome-Wide Analysis of Neuroblastomas using High-Density Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Arrays. PLoS ONE. 2007 Feb 28;2:e255. PMID: 17327916

- Carr J, Bown NP, Case MC, Hall AG, Lunec J, Tweddle DA. High-resolution analysis of allelic imbalance in neuroblastoma cell lines by single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. Cancer Genet Cytogenet. 2007 Jan 15;172(2):127-38. PMID: 17213021

- Spitz R, Oberthuer A, Zapatka M, Brors B, Hero B, Ernestus K, Oestreich J, Fischer M, Simon T, Berthold F. Oligonucleotide array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) of 90 neuroblastomas reveals aberration patterns closely associated with relapse pattern and outcome. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2006 Dec;45(12):1130-42. PMID: 16958102

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- Maris JM, Hii G, Gelfand CA, Varde S, White PS, Rappaport E, Surrey S, Fortina P. Region-specific detection of neuroblastoma loss of heterozygosity at multiple loci simultaneously using a SNP-based tag-array platform. Genome Res. 2005 Aug;15(8):1168-76. PMID: 16077016

- Chen QR, Bilke S, Khan J. High-resolution cDNA microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization analysis in neuroblastoma. Cancer Lett. 2005 Oct 18;228(1-2):71-81. PMID: 15951107

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- Pahlman S, Stockhausen MT, Fredlund E, Axelson H. Notch signaling in neuroblastoma. Semin Cancer Biol. 2004 Oct;14(5):365-73. PMID: 15288262

- Brodeur GM. Neuroblastoma: biological insights into a clinical enigma. Nat Rev Cancer. 2003 Mar;3(3):203-16. PMID: 12612655

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- Brodeur GM, Azar C, Brother M, Hiemstra J, Kaufman B, Marshall H, Moley J, Nakagawara A, Saylors R, Scavarda N, et al. Neuroblastoma. Effect of genetic factors on prognosis and treatment. Cancer. 1992 Sep 15;70(6 Suppl):1685-94. PMID: 1325279