(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New insight into the most common cancer in young children may lead to innovative treatments.

Previous research has shown amplification of a gene called MYCN in patients with neuroblastoma usually means a poor prognosis. Researchers sought to find out if other genes played a role in this type of cancer, called MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma.

The researchers screened almost 200 genes that interact with MYCN. They found a gene called AURKA is required for the growth of deadly MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells. AURKA encodes the enzyme Aurora A, which is dysregulated in cancer cells like neuroblastoma cells.

"Our results show that stabilization of N-Myc [MYCN] is a critical oncogenic function of Aurora A in childhood neuroblastoma," Dr. Martin Eilers, of the University of Wurzburg in Germany, was quoted as saying. "The challenge will now be to find ways to interfere with this function in order to find new approaches for the therapy of these tumors."

MYCN causes cancer by disrupting control of cell division and differentiation, causing certain neural cells to continue dividing uncontrollably.

SOURCE: Cancer Cell, 2009