Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

A drug–diet combination could improve childhood cancer treatment

Mouse studies show that depriving neuroblastoma of certain amino acids causes a switch in protein synthesis to suppress tumour growth and promote cell differentiation.
By
  1. Frank Speleman

    1. Frank Speleman is in the Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent B-9000, Belgium, and in the Cancer Research Institute Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.

  2. Louis Delhaye

    1. Louis Delhaye is in the Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent B-9000, Belgium, and in the Cancer Research Institute Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Neuroblastoma is a devastating cancer that is responsible for about 15% of cancer-related deaths in children1. It arises from the uncontrolled proliferation of the cells that give rise to tissues of the developing sympathetic nervous system — the branch of the nervous system that controls ‘fight or flight’ responses. Current therapies include a combination of surgery, intensive chemotherapy with stem-cell transplants, radiation and immunotherapy. Despite these multiple interventions, survival rates for high-risk neuroblastoma are low, and children who do survive can experience long-term side effects of the treatment. Therefore, international efforts are ongoing to identify treatment options that are less toxic, more precise and more potent2,3. In 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug called difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) for the treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma. Writing in Nature, Cherkaoui et al.4 report a dietary intervention, tested in mice, that has the potential to support DFMO treatment.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02824-z

References

  1. Park, J. R., Eggert, A. & Caron, H. Hematol. Oncol. Clin. North Am. 24, 65–86 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cheung, N.-K. V. & Dyer, M. A. Nature Rev. Cancer 13, 397–411 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. DuBois, S. G. et al. Pediatr. Blood Cancer 72, e31831 (2025).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Cherkaoui, S. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09564-0 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Pugh, T. J. et al. Nature Genet. 45, 279–284 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Brodeur, G. M., Seeger, R. C., Schwab, M., Varmus, H. E. & Bishop, J. M. Science 224, 1121–1124 (1984).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Decaesteker, B. et al. J. Pers. Med. 11, 1286 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hogarty, M. D. et al. Cancer Res. 68, 9735–9745 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Winther, K. S., Sørensen, M. A. & Svenningsen, S. L. J. Mol. Biol. 433, 167073 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Keller, C., Chattopadhyay, M. & Tabor, H. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 366, fnz110 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Franson, A. T. et al. Neoplasia 68, 101215 (2025).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Flynn, A. T. & Hogarty, M. D. Med. Sci. 25, 41 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Oesterheld, J. et al. J. Clin. Oncol. 42, 90–102 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Franson, A. T. et al. Neoplasia 68, 101215 (2025).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Zou, S., Wang, X., Liu, P., Ke, C. & Xu, S. Biomed. Pharmacother. 118, 109210 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Maese, L. & Rau, R. E. Front. Pediatr. 10, 902117 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links