Anti-proliferative activity of the quassinoid NBT-272 in childhood medulloblastoma cells.

With current treatment strategies, nearly half of all medulloblastoma (MB) patients die from progressive tumors. Accordingly, the identification of novel therapeutic strategies remains a major goal. Deregulation of c-MYC is evident in numerous human cancers. In MB, over-expression of c-MYC has been shown to correlate with anaplasia and unfavorable prognosis. In neuroblastoma--an embryonal tumor with biological similarities to MB--the quassinoid NBT-272 has been demonstrated to inhibit cellular proliferation and to down-regulate c-MYC protein expression.