MYCN and neoplasm: Over the past two decades, tumour histology, (Shimada et al, 1999) status of the MYCN oncogene, (Brodeur et al, 1984; Seeger et al, 1985), and tumour cell DNA content (ploidy; Look et al, 1991; Ladenstein et al, 2001) have each been shown to be independently predictive of patient outcome in large retrospective and prospective studies.