title: Identification of patient subgroups with markedly disparate rates of MYCN amplification in neuroblastoma: A report from the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group project.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  MYCN gene amplification (MNA) is a hallmark of aggressive neuroblastoma. This study was performed to determine univariate and multivariate predictors of tumor MNA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group were analyzed for a subset of 7102 patients with known MYCN status. Chi-square testing and logistic regression were used to identify univariate and multivariate predictors of MYCN status. Recursive partitioning was used to identify groups of patients with maximal differences in rates of MNA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All clinical features (age ≥ 18 months, high ferritin levels, high lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] levels, International Neuroblastoma Staging System stage 4, and adrenal sites) and pathological/biological features (DNA index ≤ 1, high mitosis-karyorrhexis index [MKI], undifferentiated/poorly differentiated grade, unfavorable histology according to the International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification, and segmental chromosomal aberrations [SCAs]) were significantly associated with MNA. LDH (odds ratio [OR], 8.4; P < .001) and chromosomal 1p loss of heterozygosity (OR, 19.8; P < .001) were the clinical and biological variables, respectively, most strongly associated with MNA. In logistic regression, all variables except chromosome 17q aberration and pooled SCAs were independently predictive of MNA. Recursive partitioning identified subgroups with disparate rates of MNA, including subgroups with 85.7% MNA (patients with high LDH levels who had poorly differentiated adrenal tumors with chromosome 1p deletion) and 0.6% MNA (localized tumors having hyperdiploidy and low MKIs and lacking chromosome 1p aberrations).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MNA is strongly associated with other clinical and biological variables in neuroblastoma. Recursive partitioning has identified subgroups of neuroblastoma patients with highly disparate rates of MNA. These findings can be used to inform investigations of molecular mechanisms of MNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Daria
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Kieuhoa T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Vo
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Children's Hospital Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Wendy B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: London
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology, Children's Hospital and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Children's Cancer Research Institute, St. Anne Kinderkrebsforschung, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Ambros
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Chiba Cancer Center Research Institute and Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakagawara
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Garrett M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Brodeur
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Katherine K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Matthay
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Steven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: DuBois
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016015:Logistic Models; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D008297:Male; D000071447:N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015513:Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: C459801:MYCN protein, human; D000071447:N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D015513:Oncogene Proteins
keywords: decision trees; gene amplification; neuroblastoma; neuroblastoma/genetics; oncogene proteins/genetics