Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Lund University in Sweden have identified a new treatment strategy for neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer. By combining two antioxidant enzyme inhibitors, they have converted cancer cells in mice into healthy nerve cells.

The study, “Combined targeting of PRDX6 and GSTP1 as a potential differentiation strategy for neuroblastoma treatment,” is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Neuroblastoma is a type of childhood cancer that affects the nervous system and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in young children. Some patients have a good prognosis, but those with metastatic tumors often cannot be cured despite modern combinations of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.