Nature Sub-Journal: Single-cell nuclear sequencing analysis explains the risk of neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that occurs in infants and young children

Neuroblastoma usually originates in the sympathetic nervous system or adrenal glands

Co-corresponding author Susanne Schlisio, associate professor of Karolinska Institutet, said: "In our research, we performed single-cell sequencing of healthy adrenal tissues from fetuses, infants, and older children, and compared them with neuroblastoma.

Researchers collected tumor tissue samples from patients of all ages.

"We found that low-risk and high-risk neuroblastoma tumors are composed of different cell types, and different cell types also show different malignant potentials," Susanne Schlisio explained

They found that low-risk neuroblastoma matched the cell type during fetal adrenal development, while aggressive high-risk neuroblastoma matched another cell type, which can only be used in children after birth.

Analysis of these cell types also revealed different gene expression programs that control the age-related survival conditions at the time of diagnosis

Oscar Bedoya Reina, the first author and assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet, said: "These special cells help regenerate healthy tissues after birth, but when they become abnormal and cancerous, they can also cause aggressive nerves.

Now, researchers are preparing to expand their research to understand how the identified progenitor cells undergo further changes after birth, resulting in specialized cell types

"A detailed understanding of this progenitor cell type will help us make predictions and preliminary verification of future treatment strategies based on tumor differentiation," Susanne Schlisio concluded

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Bedoya-Reina, OC, Li, W.