Carissa Ritner, B.S.
Radiation Oncology
Neuroblastoma, radiation resistance, miRNA
Third Floor, Feinberg Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common childhood cancers with one of the lowest survival rates, accounting for 15% of childhood cancer mortality. Approximately half of children treated for high-risk neuroblastoma will relapse following remission, while another 15% of patients do not respond to initial treatment. Ionizing radiation has long been a standard course of treatment for these tumors; however, resistance is a poorly understood and highly common issue. We found that tumor suppressor miR-34a and putative oncogene miR-1228 are differentially expressed following radiation exposure in a manner which indicates induced cell death in SK-N-AS and acquired radioresistance in SK-N-DZ cell lines. We attribute these affects to direct and indirect targeting of tumor suppressor gene TP53 and oncogenes such as cMET, MYCN, and BCL2. We propose that miR-34A and miR-1228 serve counteractive roles in neuroblastoma, with effects differing based on tumor cell subtype. Furthering our understanding of these miRNAs in neuroblastoma will enable us to circumvent acquired treatment resistance of the tumors and increase overall efficacy of the therapies through directed alteration of downstream targets.