Neuroblastoma is the weirdest cancer. It is a solid tumor that arises from immature cells that are supposed to form a part of the nervous system. It’s weird because it is so diverse in how aggressive it can be. Infants can be born with neuroblastoma and it may go away on its own. Some toddlers may require 2-4 cycles of chemotherapy and surgery, while others will require years of therapy, sometimes with a good outcome and sometimes not. Teenagers can live ‘with disease’ for a long time, but will usually die from the disease at some point.
There is one group of neuroblastoma patients classified as ‘high risk’ that has historically been the diagnosis that is the hardest to treat. The disease is relentless, but so are neuroblastoma researchers and they have made a difference.
In the above picture is an abbreviated timeline of the history of neuroblastoma research, which stretches back to 1864. The boxes in black are more ‘science’ discoveries, the boxes in red have clinical relevance, and the boxes marked with stars are clinical milestones where success has been achieved. I have left a lot of the technical scientific breakthroughs out for simplicity, but even without many of the black boxes, it’s easy to see the pattern; good solid scientific discovery ALWAYS precedes clinical success.
In the time I have been a physician, I have seen an increase in survival for these children. It is a hard-fought battle for the kids, but more survive each day. In fact, in 2015, the FDA approved the first new drug specifically for pediatric cancer since 1980. That is correct, no drugs have been approved for pediatric cancer in 35 years. I’ll try to explain this better in a later post, but essentially it is because pharmaceutical companies are not interested in pediatric specific drugs.
A pharmaceutical company did not develop this drug. This was the blood, sweat, and tears of researchers, patient advocates, philanthropic money and NCI support. Good people rule the world. You can read more about it here: Neuroblastoma
Timeline adapted from this article
