[Significance of application of immunocytochemical detection of GD2 antigen in bone marrow in neuroblastoma patients].

The presence of disseminated neuroblastoma cells in bone marrow in children over 1 year old is important for clinical staging and risk assessment at diagnosis and for therapy monitoring. Reliable detection of single tumor cells in bone marrow may be a factor of great prognostic significance. Currently disseminated NBL cells are detected by conventional cytomorphological examination of bone marrow smears but this method is not sensitive enough to detect single tumor cells.

[Treatment results of children with neuroblastoma: report of Polish Pediatric Solid Tumor Group].

Approximately 60 children aged 0-18 years are diagnosed of NBL each year in Poland. About 60% of all patients suffering from NBL have a chance for durable cure. Unfortunately the prognosis for patients within the high-risk group accounting for more than 50% of all NBL patients remains poor despite the introduction of more intensive chemotherapy regimens with radical surgery procedures and megachemotherapy with subsequent stem cell transplantation.

New method for quantitative analysis of GD2 ganglioside in plasma of neuroblastoma patients.

Neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial solid tumour of childhood, is a malignancy of unknown origin and non-specific symptoms. One of the markers of the disease is GD2 ganglioside (disialoganglioside), which is abundantly expressed on the surface of neuroblastoma cells. Gangliosides are known to be shed by tumour cells and this phenomenon can be significant in cancer progression as they inhibit a number of immune responses both in vitro and in vivo.