Laura Glass1, 2, Yann Jamin1, Rani George3, Louis Chesler2, Simon P. Robinson1
1CRUK and ESPRC Cancer Imaging Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, London, United Kingdom; 2Paediatric Oncology, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, London, United Kingdom; 3Pediatric Oncology, Harvard University School of Medicine, Dana Faber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, United States
Neuroblastoma is the most common extra-cranial solid tumour of infancy. It is well established that MCYN amplified patients are strongly correlated with a poor prognosis and increased likelihood of disease relapse. More recently, patients with ALK mutated cases of neuroblastoma have been associated with a very poor prognosis and an ultra-high risk of disease relapse. This study uses R2* to identify the presence of an ALK mutation in transgenic murine models. If this phenomenon translates to clinical situation, multi-gradient echo sequences could be incorporated into diagnostic scanning in neuroblastoma to stratify patients for targeted therapy.