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Research led by scientists at Children s Cancer Institute and published this week in the international journal,
Clinical Cancer Research, has found a combination of therapies that appears to be highly effective against high-risk neuroblastoma and other forms of aggressive childhood cancer.
Up to half of all cases of neuroblastoma newly diagnosed in children are high-risk , meaning the cancer grows aggressively and is difficult to treat. Despite receiving intensive treatment, most children with high-risk disease die within five years of diagnosis, while those who survive are often left with serious long-term health effects.
Professor Michelle Haber AM, a senior author on the paper and co-head of the Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics theme at Children s Cancer Institute, said children diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma have less than a 50-50 chance of survival. That is a devastating prognosis. We are absolutely determined to find better ways to treat this