Abstract
Neuroblastoma is the second most frequent fatal tumor of childhood; it offers several unusual features which seem worthy of more research support than it has received in the past. Neuroblastoma is an embryonic tumor by virtue of its cell type which resembles embryonic neural crest tissue; it has many biologic characteristics which suggest that host immunity plays an important role. It undergoes spontaneous remissions more often than any other malignant tumor, but the unique property of neuroblastoma is that it frequently undergoes remission by maturation to a more differentiated cell type. This response does not suggest a host immune mechanism of either the cell bound or humoral type but, rather, an innate property of the neuroblastoma cell or mechanisms that normally regulate control and maturation of sympathetic nervous tissue. For this reason, study of nerve growth factor seems a most promising approach to etiology and control of neuroblastoma. The recent technics of tumor virology and immunology have not been applied to neuroblastoma at all, and this should be corrected. Until the etiology has been established, treatment must remain empiric. At the same time, experimental therapeutic research on a clinical basis should be continued in neuroblastoma because this tumor is cured by nonspecific measures more frequently than any other malignant tumor.
Published Version
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