‘Limited drug distribution to tumor microenvironment as a mechanism of chemoresistance in neuroblastoma’

Jaume Mora, Carles Monterrubio.

Neuroblastoma, a solid tumor of the childhood, is the cause of 15% of deaths by cancer in children under the age of 15. Survival of stage 4 neuroblastoma patients remains poor (around 30%) because tumors rapidly develop resistance to conventional treatments. Although chemoresistance of neublastoma is usually attributed to biological properties of tumor cells, the inadequate penetration of chemotherapy to the tumor tissue may account for an additional mechanism of resistance.

However, thorough research on this topic has not been performed so far. The research team’s initial hypothesis is that drug penetration is hindered in chemoresistan neuroblastoma and it can be modulated by means of pharmacological approaches including drug delivery systems and concomitant drugs that modify tumor microenvironment.