It was sold out two months in advance, so it was no surprise to see a packed auditorium at Selwyn College Cambridge for the 6th Neuroblastoma UK Research Symposium on 21st and 22nd March 2024. Over 130 scientists and clinicians attended from across Europe, US, and further afield, including world leading experts in pre-clinical and clinical neuroblastoma research.

This Trustees Week, we shine the spotlight on Dr Kate Wheeler and Dr Deb Tweddle, our Medical Trustees for over 10 years.

Deb and Kate attended the SIOPEN (international Society of Paediatric Oncology - European Neuroblastoma Group) annual general meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 4th to 6th October 2023. Their visit was supported by Eusa Pharma.

This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we joined the research team at the University of Cambridge to celebrate their vital research into neuroblastoma. Dr Kirsty Ferguson organised this fabulous opportunity for our team and supporters to visit the lab, and tells us more about the day.

International Women's Day (8th March) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

We celebrate the female scientists who work tirelessly to fight childhood cancer - we asked three of our funded researchers about what motivates them in their work to improve treatment for neuroblastoma.

This year we reviewed the current results of the research initially funded by Neuroblastoma UK from 2010 to 2017. Our Symposiums over the last ten years have brought together researchers to share their work and highlight topics, examples are: new treatments, advances in differentiation therapy, genetic landscape of neuroblastoma , the role of MYC gene and micro RNA signatures.

Intensive chemotherapy used in the treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma does not cure all children and has significant side effects and long-term toxicity, so it is imperative that we continue to look for new treatments. One area is to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy. Anti-GD2 immunotherapy is now a mainstay in the therapy of neuroblastoma. Natural killer cells play a major role in the effectiveness of anti-GD2 immunotherapy and EZH2 alters the action of natural killer cells. This pilot study will investigate the benefit of combining EZH2 inhibitors and anti-GD2 immunotherapy.

Members of this team at Southampton discovered that the Zika virus can specifically infect and kill cells in childhood brain tumours, and it has shown some promise in the laboratory with aggressive neuroblastoma. The funded research will look into the appropriateness of using this virus to specifically infect and destroy cancer cells without destroying normal cells; an approach known as oncolytic virotherapy. These are attractive potential treatments for childhood cancers as they typically have low toxicity and are well tolerated.

Neuroblastoma UK, a charity that funds research into neuroblastoma, a rare and often aggressive childhood cancer, welcomes the debate in the House of Commons today (26 April) on childhood cancer outcomes.

There is an urgent need for more research funding into childhood cancers, particularly neuroblastoma, to improve diagnosis, treatment and survival rates.