Resumen
Aggressive neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most common pediatric cancers and causes a disproportionate mortality among affected children. A better knowledge about the biology of this tumor is needed to be able to provide new treatments and prognostic tools. Protein kinases are one of the best targets for molecular cancer treatment, as we are potentially able to produce inhibitors that abrogate its activity. In this study we have identified that the human protein kinase VRK1 is associated with tumor aggressiveness and patient survival in NB. We have characterized the function of VRK1 in NB tumor cells and determined that VRK1 is an essential mediator of NB cell proliferation. We also study the relationship between VRK1 and the oncogene MYCN, the best-known marker for NB progression to date. Our work suggests that VRK1 synergize with MYCN to drive NB progression and that VRK1 inhibition may constitute a novel cell-cycle-targeted strategy for anticancer therapy in neuroblastoma.