Pathway leading to neuroblastoma identified!

A more complete understanding of aberrant oncogenic signaling in neuroblastoma, a malignancy of the developing sympathetic nervous system, is paramount to improving patient outcomes.

Recently, researchers identified LIN28B as an oncogenic driver in high-risk neuroblastoma.

Here, they identify the oncogene RAN as a LIN28B target and show regional gain of chromosome 12q24 as an additional somatic alteration resulting in increased RAN expression.

Authors show that LIN28B influences RAN expression by promoting RAN Binding Protein 2 expression and by directly binding RAN mRNA.

Further, they demonstrate a convergence of LIN28B and RAN signaling on Aurora kinase A activity.

Collectively, these findings demonstrate that LIN28B-RAN-AURKA signaling drives neuroblastoma oncogenesis, suggesting that this pathway may be amenable to therapeutic targeting.

http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/abstract/S1535-6108(15)00343-8