BDNF and childhood neoplasm: Since BDNF induces the proliferation of sympathoblasts in cell culture, yet in vivo there is little proliferation observed in TrkB-positive cells in nascent ganglia, we propose that if TrkB activation becomes unregulated by excess BDNF or constitutive phosphorylation of TrkB [16], this transient population of TrkB-positive sympathoblasts may trigger the genesis of neuroblastoma, a childhood tumor found in the paravertebral chain and adrenal medulla.