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HOXC9 links cell-cycle exit and neuronal differentiation and is a prognostic marker in neuroblastoma.

ABSTRACT: Differentiation status in neuroblastoma strongly affects clinical outcomes and inducing differentiation is a treatment strategy in this disease. However, the molecular mechanisms that control neuroblastoma differentiation are not well understood. Here, we show that high-level HOXC9 expression is associated with neuroblastoma differentiation and is prognostic for better survival in neuroblastoma patients. HOXC9 induces growth arrest and neuronal differentiation in neuroblastoma cells by directly targeting both cell-cycle-promoting and neuronal differentiation genes. HOXC9 expression is upregulated by retinoic acid (RA), and knockdown of HOXC9 expression confers resistance to RA-induced growth arrest and differentiation. Moreover, HOXC9 expression is epigenetically silenced in RA-resistant neuroblastoma cells, and forced HOXC9 expression is sufficient to inhibit their proliferation and tumorigenecity. These findings identified HOXC9 as a key regulator of neuroblastoma differentiation and suggested a therapeutic strategy for RA-resistant neuroblastomas through epigenetic activation of HOXC9 expression.

SUBMITTER: Mao L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3116998 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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HOXC9 links cell-cycle exit and neuronal differentiation and is a prognostic marker in neuroblastoma.

Mao Ling L Ding Jane J Zha Yunhong Y Yang Liqun L McCarthy Brian A BA King William W Cui Hongjuan H Ding Han-Fei HF

Cancer research 20110420 12

Differentiation status in neuroblastoma strongly affects clinical outcomes and inducing differentiation is a treatment strategy in this disease. However, the molecular mechanisms that control neuroblastoma differentiation are not well understood. Here, we show that high-level HOXC9 expression is associated with neuroblastoma differentiation and is prognostic for better survival in neuroblastoma patients. HOXC9 induces growth arrest and neuronal differentiation in neuroblastoma cells by directly ...[more]

PMID: 21507931

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Project description:BackgroundNeuroblastoma (NB) is the most common pediatric solid tumor that originates from neural crest-derived sympathoadrenal precursor cells that are committed to development of sympathetic nervous system. The well differentiated histological phenotype of NB tumor cells has been reportedly associated with favorable patient outcome. Retinoic acid (RA) can effectively induce NB cell differentiation, thereby being used in the clinic as a treatment agent for inducing the differentiation of high-risk NB. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of regulating differentiation remain elusive.MethodsThe correlation between clinical characteristics, survival and the deubiquitinating enzyme ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase 1 (UCHL1) expression were assessed using a neuroblastic tumor tissue microarray, and then validated in three independent patient datasets. The different expression of UCHL1 in ganglioneuroblastoma, ganglioneuroma and NB was detected by immunohistochemistry, mass spectra and immunoblotting analysis, and the correlation between UCHL1 expression and the differentiated histology was analyzed, which was also validated in three independent patient datasets. Furthermore, the roles of UCHL1 in NB cell differentiation and proliferation and the underlying mechanisms were studied by using short hairpin RNA and its inhibitor LDN57444 in vitro.ResultsBased on our neuroblastic tumor tissue microarrays and three independent validation datasets (Oberthuer, Versteeg and Seeger), we identified that UCHL1 served as a prognostic marker for better clinical outcome in NB. We further demonstrated that high UCHL1 expression was associated with NB differentiation, indicated by higher UCHL1 expression in ganglioneuroblastomas/ganglioneuromas and well-differentiated NB than poorly differentiated NB, and the positive correlation between UCHL1 and differentiation markers. As expected, inhibiting UCHL1 by knockdown or LDN57444 could significantly inhibit RA-induced neural differentiation of NB tumor cells, characterized by decreased neurite outgrowth and neural differentiation markers. This effect of UCHL1 was associated with positively regulating RA-induced AKT and ERK1/2 signaling activation. What's more, knockdown of UCHL1 conferred resistance to RA-induced growth arrest.ConclusionOur findings identify a pivotal role of UCHL1 in NB cell differentiation and as a prognostic marker for survival in patients with NB, potentially providing a novel therapeutic target for NB.

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HOXC9 links cell-cycle exit and neuronal differentiation and is a prognostic marker in neuroblastoma.

Publications

HOXC9 links cell-cycle exit and neuronal differentiation and is a prognostic marker in neuroblastoma.

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