New Insights into NB Heterogeneity and NB-Associated Microenvironment
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 2816
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cytokines; natural killer cells; tumor microenvironment; myeloid cells
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: NK; TGF(2); IL; neuroblastoma; tumor immunology
Interests: NK; TGF(2); IL; neuroblastoma; tumor immunology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most frequent extracranial solid tumor of childhood, causing 10% of deaths in cancer patients. Its origin from embryonic neural cell crests is responsible for the high NB heterogeneity in terms of both histological and clinical features. Characterized by a primary mass commonly arising in the adrenal medulla or sympathetic ganglia, NB clinical variants range from spontaneously regressing to metastatic high-risk diseases with a dismal prognosis despite the combined therapies used. These therapies include aggressive chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, followed by the infusion of antibodies targeting the disialoganglioside GD2. Unfortunately, patients may show resistance to chemotherapy or, after a complete or partial remission at the end of the standard therapeutic protocol, fatal progressions, often due to relapses associated with bone marrow (BM) metastases. Moreover, a subset of NB lacking GD2 has been recently described unveiling a novel mechanism of NB resistance and suggesting the need for alternative immunotherapeutic approaches.
With these premises, new personalized therapeutic chances for patients might derive from the integrated genetic, biological, and immunophenotypic analysis of NB, both at primary and metastatic sites, to define new mechanisms of NB resistance and discover innovative therapeutic targets. The new knowledge will be useful also to optimize diagnosis, risk stratification, and prognosis.
We should also consider that, due to the low number of recurrent NB driver mutations, additional important data might derive from the study of the NB microenvironment, including the characterization of the immune effectors involved in NB recognition and killing.
Therefore, the present Special Issue aims to open new discussions on:
- Genetic, biological, immune-phenotypic, and functional properties of NB cells;
- Phenotypic and functional properties of cells composing the NB microenvironment;
- Mechanisms influencing NB aggressiveness and response to therapies;
- Novel therapeutic/immunotherapeutic approaches, including adoptive cell-based strategies;
- Efficacy of computational strategies for finding new therapeutic targets.
Original articles or other article types including reviews, mini-reviews, and commentaries are welcome.
Dr. Roberta Castriconi
Dr. Alessandra Dondero
Dr. Alberto Garaventa
Dr. Sanja Aveic
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- NB biology
- NB-immumophenotype
- immune landscape
- NB microenvironment
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