ALK/MYCN Coamplification in Neuroblastoma: A Short Review

2 Abstract: Neuroblastoma remains one of devastating childhood cancer that plagues clinical researchers worldwide. Although, key oncogenes have been discovered, the prognostic significance of these remains to be confirms. The discovery of ALK in 2008 has opened new therapeutic area for this childhood cancer. Although ALK amplification only occurs in 1-2% of whole population sample, coamplification of ALK/MYCN in neuroblastoma suggests a correlation between these two genes. This review discusses how coamplification of ALK/MYCN results in oncogeneity in neuroblastoma. In addition, this review also highlights the recent discoveries of ALK/MYCN pathway and how this co-existence may lead to high-risk neuroblastoma and treatment resistance in patients with this genetic alteration.