Peripheral Neuroblastic Tumors: Epidemiology, MYCN, CD44

Peripheral neuroblastic tumors (pNTs) are extremely heterogeneous solid pediatric tumors responsible for 15 % of childhood cancer death. In Morocco, no epidemiological, molecular or biological studies concerning these tumors have been undertaken, which prompted us to conduct this work. We have tried to review the various clinical and histopathological pNTs data as well as incidence, survival and mortality of these tumors. Molecular study allowed us to establish the Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) method, unanimously adopted worldwide to determine MYCN amplification status, a major prognostic factor in the choice of appropriate therapeutic strategy. MYCN amplification was found in 27.8% of pNTs cases. In turn, study of CD44 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) has revealed that this cell adhesion molecule is a strong predictor of metastasis, its positivity being a sign of lack of tumor invasion. The overall results obtained through these analytical and epidemiological studies allowed to establish some clinical, histological and biological associations and were compared to the previously reported international data.