PENZBERG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Germline mutations in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene explain most hereditary neuroblastomas, providing the first example of a pediatric cancer arising because of mutations in an oncogene, as a recent published research study has shown (1). Together with the reported common variations at chromosome band 6p22 predisposing to the development of sporadic neuroblastoma (2), the genetic etiology of this disease, one of the most common childhood tumors, has now being defined and has clearly established ALK as a critical neuroblastoma oncogene.
