Causes
There are no known risk factors that have been identified specific to the disease. The tumor appears to arise from the primitive cells of childhood, and is considered a childhood cancer.
Research has indicated that there is a chimeric relationship between desmoplastic small-round-cell tumor (DSRCT) and Wilms' tumor and Ewing's sarcoma. Together with neuroblastoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, they form the small or B cell tumors.
DSRCT is associated with a unique chromosomal translocation (t11;22)(p13:q12) resulting in a EWS/WT1 transcript that is diagnostic of this tumor. This transcript codes for a protein that acts as a transcriptional activator that fails to suppress tumor growth.
The EWS/WT1 translocation product targets ENT4. ENT4 is also known as PMAT.
Read more about this topic: Desmoplastic Small-round-cell Tumor