Investigation of Schwann cells secreted factors inhibiting aggressive neuroblastoma growth

Introduction: Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common solid neoplastic disease during infancy. In contrast to aggressive NBs, maturing/mature NBs are associated with a favourable prognosis and harbour a special characteristic, a non-neoplastic Schwann cell (SC) stroma. Previous Results: Published data suggest that reciprocal signalling between SCs and NB cells impair NB growth by differentiation, apoptosis and proliferation-stop of NB cells accompanied by decreased vascularity. In vivo, only genetically favourable NBs undergo spontaneous maturation, however, previous results showed that aggressive NB cells with un…