Longitudinal single-cell analysis identifies a chemotherapy-suppressed proliferative program associated with adverse prognosis in neuroblastoma.

A chemotherapy-suppressed proliferative program in malignant neuroblasts predicts adverse prognosis in neuroblastoma.

• Why it matters: Understanding tumor programs that persist or change after treatment can improve risk stratification and guide therapy decisions in high-risk neuroblastoma, which often relapses after intensive therapy.
• What they did: Longitudinal single-cell and single-nucleus RNA-seq data from diagnostic and post-treatment neuroblastoma samples were analyzed, identifying PTX-down gene sets and calculating a proliferation score across cohorts.
• The result: A high PTX-down proliferation score was linked to worse overall and event-free survival, added prognostic value beyond existing models, and was associated with high-risk features like MYCN amplification and stage 4 disease.