Researchers have used insight from a comprehensive genomic analysis of neuroblastoma to learn about the process driving one of the most common childhood solid tumors. The findings revealed possible approaches for developing precision medicines to improve patient outcomes. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists led the study.
The analysis involved whole genome, whole exome and whole transcriptome sequencing of 702 neuroblastoma samples. The tumors included 23 samples from patients who relapsed. The work identified associations among common mutational traits that researchers hope to exploit therapeutically.
“This combined analysis of a large cohort of tumors provided insight into previously unrecognized correlations at work in neuroblastoma as well as the discovery of less common driver mutations,” said corresponding author Jinghui Zhang, PhD, chair of the St. Jude Department of Computational Biology.
