Immune therapies for neuroblastoma

Abstract

Neuroblastoma, a solid tumor arising from developing cells of the sympathetic nervous

system, is the most common extracranial tumor in children.  The prognosis for high-risk

neuroblastoma remains poor with conventional treatment, and new approaches are

therefore being explored to treat this disease.  One such alternative therapy that holds

promise is immune therapy.  We review here the recent advances in 4 types of immune

therapy – cytokine, vaccine, antibody, and cellular therapy – to treat neuroblastoma.  We

present preclinical research and clinical trials on several promising candidates such as IL-

12, dendritic cell vaccines, anti-GD2 antibodies, and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell

transplant.  An optimal treatment plan for neuroblastoma will most likely involve

multimodal approaches and combinations of immune therapies.