Immunotherapy With Dinutuximab Beta in Combination With Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Patients With Primary Neuroblastoma Refractory to Standard Therapy and With Relapsed or Progressive Disease

Neuroblastoma (NBL) accounts for 8-10% of all childhood malignancies. It is the most common solid tumor outside the central nervous system in people \<18 years of age. It occurs in 6-11 / 1 million children annually. In Poland, NBL is diagnosed annually in 60-70 patients, in 1/3 high-risk disease (HR). In 90% of children, NBL is diagnosed before the age of 5. The diagnosis is made on the basis of the histopathological assessment of the tumor tissue or the presence of NBL cells in the bone marrow together with elevated levels of catecholamines or their metabolites in the urine. The prognostic factors include the patient's age at diagnosis, stage of disease, tumor histopathology, DNA ploidy, MYCN gene status, chromosomal changes, and initial response to therapy. Due to the different course of the disease, the therapeutic decision is made after determining the risk group based on international criteria (International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Stage System, INRGSS and International Neuroblastoma Staging System, INSS). In the lowest-risk group, management is limited to observation or surgery, and in the intermediate-risk group, only standard low- and intermediate-intensity chemotherapy or combined with radiation therapy and surgery is performed. In contrast, HR-NBL uses intensive combination therapy, including standard induction chemotherapy, surgery, high-dose chemotherapy (HD-CHT) and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT), radiotherapy and maintenance therapy with 13-cis retinoic acid and targeted immunotherapy with anti-GD2 antibodies. Treatment outcomes in NBL vary from spontaneous tumor regression in some infants to an OS rate of \<50% despite intensive combination therapy in the HR-NBL group.