Childhood Cancer

Childhood Cancer

Newer treatment approaches

For children with neuroblastoma that does not go away after standard treatment, or that recurs, newer, targeted therapies are used. Newer drugs target specific genes, proteins, and pathways (such as ALK or TRK) that are critical to neuroblastoma cell survival.

Cellular immunotherapy (treating disease by stimulating the body’s natural immune response) has proven very effective against acute lymphoblastic leukemia and may be modified to target neuroblastoma. Another new treatment is the targeted delivery of conventional drugs to the tumor using nanoparticles (microscopic particles of matter engineered to do specific tasks). Some of these approaches have been used successfully in recurrent disease and are now being tested in newly diagnosed children. However, others are still being developed or are being tested in children for the first time. There is great promise for more effective, less toxic therapy for neuroblastoma in the near future.

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Charlotte was 4 months old at diagnosis with stage 4, intermediate risk neuroblastoma. The tumor had crossed the midline, was pressing on her lungs and liver, and was wrapped around her spine. It was the size of a man’s fist in a 16-pound baby. In the MRI pictures, it looked like the tumor was literally grasping her spine. At diagnosis, she could not move her legs at all. She had a few rounds of chemotherapy starting in June but no other treatments. All of a sudden one day in September she grabbed her leg. She was sitting on the changing table and reached down and held her leg. Then we saw her move the leg a little. The doctor warned us that it might not be deliberate movement, but soon we could see that she was really moving it. After that she started rolling over and sitting up. She was declared in remission in March at 13 months old, and she is now a healthy 5 year old.