Targeting autophagy in neuroblastoma

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracellular solid tumor among children accounting for serious mortality. Macroautophagy, a common housekeeping mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis in eukaryotic cells, is involved in tumorigenesis and chemoresistance in a spectrum of cancers. DATA RESOURCES: Based on the terms of ‘autophagy’ and ‘neuroblastoma’, all the recent literature was searched and reviewed through PubMed. RESULTS: Autophagy is associated with apoptosis, histone modifications, angiogenesis, metabolism in NB. With those facts we assume that NB is an autophagy-dependent tumor, which means that autophagy inhibition therapy is desirable. CONCLUSION: Autophagy in NB is pro-oncogenic, so inhibiting autophagy in high-risk NB may benefit treatment outcomes.