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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Scientists are on the trail to a better understanding of the most common form of cancer in young children.
Their study has found a new biomarker that may help predict prognosis for kids with neuroblastoma.
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The researchers uncovered the biomarker called ZNF423 after performing a genome-wide screen aimed at finding new components of the retinoic acid (RA) signaling pathway linked to the cancer. RA was targeted because studies have shown it plays a key role in the growth and differentiation of cells. As such it is already being used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of many types of cancer, including neuroblastoma.
ZNF423 was found to play its own part in the process. Specifically, results showed reduced expression of ZNF423 was associated with a poorer outcome for neuroblastoma patients.
Expression levels of ZNF423 could significantly affect responses to both endogenous and pharmacological concentrations of RA in cancer patients, which may in turn influence the outcome of neuroblastoma, study author Dr. Rene Bernards, from The Netherlands Cancer Institute, was quoted as saying. Therefore, ZNF423 may be a useful biomarker for predicting responses to RA-based therapies, which are increasingly being used to treat neuroblastoma.
SOURCE: Cancer Cell, published online April 6, 2009
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