title: Minimal disease detection in peripheral blood and bone marrow from patients with non-metastatic neuroblastoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In non-metastatic neuroblastoma (NB), the identification of the cases that require more intensive treatment is still difficult. Minimal disease (MD) and minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in outcome prediction seems to be important in advanced neuroblastoma, but there are not many studies focused on patients with non-metastatic disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of MD detected at diagnosis could be associated with bad prognosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction QRT-PCR was performed on peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) samples from patients with non-metastatic NB at diagnosis for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and doublecortin (DCX) mRNAs detection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The frequencies of detecting MD in our series of 102 patients with non-metastatic NB were as follows: 6.2% (5/81) PB samples and 10.6% (10/94) BM samples. Overall survival was similar for patients who expressed or not the MD biomarkers at diagnosis. However, patients with MD detected in PB showed lower EFS than patients with negative PB (P = 0.038).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Minimal disease detection in PB seems to be useful for predicting relapse probabilities in patients with non-metastatic NB. The stages 1 and 2 patients with neuroblastoma showed high survival rates, and MD was detected in a small number of patients probably being non-contributory for predicting patient outcome. For stage 3 patients with NB, MD detection by QRT-PCR in PB at diagnosis could be useful for predicting outcome and for early and sensitive detection of relapsing disease.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Oncología Pediátrica, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Bulevar Sur S/N, 46026 Valencia, Spain. yanyez_yan@gva.es
authors.forename: Yania
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yáñez
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grau
authors.forename: Silvestre
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oltra
authors.forename: Adela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cañete
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Orellana
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Noguera
authors.forename: Sarai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palanca
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Castel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D000089622:Doublecortin Domain Proteins; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D000071447:N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D015513:Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C000714328:DCX protein, human; D000089622:Doublecortin Domain Proteins; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; C459801:MYCN protein, human; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D000071447:N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein; D009479:Neuropeptides; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase