Researchers in Australia find potential treatment to bypass resistance cancer

29/11/2025 17:34

Researchers in Australia have identified a drug overcoming treatment resistance in relapsed neuroblastoma, the deadly childhood cancer.



The discovery could improve neuroblastoma treatment, the most common solid tumor in children outside the brain, which currently claims 9 out of 10 young patients who experience recurrence, a media release of Australia's Garvan Institute of Medical Research said on Saturday.



The drug combination found by Garvan researchers can bypass the cellular defenses these tumors develop that lead to relapse, it said.



The team has shown romidepsin, an approved lymphoma drug, triggers neuroblastoma cell death via alternative pathways, bypassing blocked routes to improve chemo-resistant cases in children.



Researchers found standard chemotherapy drugs rely on the JNK pathway "switch" for cell death. In relapsed tumors, this switch has often stopped working, meaning treatments are no longer effective.



The findings made in animal models showed that romidepsin combined with standard chemotherapy halts tumor growth via alternative cell-death pathways, bypassing the blocked JNK pathway common in resistant cases.



The combo reduced tumor growth, extended survival, and allowed lower chemo doses, potentially reducing side effects for young children, according to the findings published in Science Advances.