Objective Neuroblastoma (NBL) is the most common solid tumor of infancy. Nearly 45% of all children with NBL are designated as high-risk patients and 60% of them die. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and target the molecular programs that are responsible for NBL aggressiveness, especially those that contribute to metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy.Recently, it has become evident that microRNAs (miRNAs) are deregulated in numerous diseases including cancer. Particularly in NBL, there is a global reduction of miRNA levels, especially in high-risk patients, and the expression of miRNA processing machinery components (i.e. Drosha, Dicer) impact on patient outcome. MiRNA restoration can be the basis for novel forms of therapy, by limiting the metastatic potential of NBL tumor cells and/or enhancing their sensitivity to current forms of treatment.The overall goal of my research will be to restore the levels of miRNA using a full miRNA library (1200 miRNAs) in highly chemoresistant NBL cells, and monitor the response with the miRNA alone or in combination with currently used chemotherapy drugs. The effect of the miRNA(s) will be validated in a expanded panel of NBL cell lines. Furthermore, we plan to develop a therapeutic tool based on nanoparticles, to target NBL cells in vivo and overexpress the target miRNA.Finally, the levels of those miRNA are going to be evaluated retrospectively in FFPE archived samples, in order to determine if the expression of a particular miRNA (or a signature) can be a biomarker of disease, indicator of minimal-residual disease or response to therapy and, correlation with overall or post-recurrence survival. Fields of science medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyengineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG - Marie-Curie Action: "Career Integration Grants" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-CIG - Support for training and career development of researcher (CIG) Coordinator FUNDACIO HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARI VALL D'HEBRON - INSTITUT DE RECERCA EU contribution € 100 000,00 Address PASSEIG VALL D HEBRON 119-129 EDIFICIO DE RECERCA 08035 Barcelona Spain See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Jose Sánchez De Toledo (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data