title: Coordinate changes in neuronal phenotype and surface antigen expression in human neuroblastoma cell variants.
abstract: Human neuroblastoma cells growing in culture offer a unique opportunity to study proliferating human cells with a neuronal phenotype. We have previously identified several neuroblastoma cell lines which show spontaneous conversion (N/S interconversion) between two morphologically distinct cell types: neuroblastic (N-type) cells and variant, substrate-adherent (S-type) cells resembling cultured glial or mesenchymal cells. In the present study, we have used molecular markers to confirm the neuronal phenotype of N-type cells and to demonstrate that S-type cells have a nonneuronal phenotype. Furthermore, we have used these markers, including a series of cell surface differentiation antigens, to compare S-type neuroblastoma cells with a wide range of cultured epithelial, mesenchymal, and neuroectodermal cells. The results suggest that N/S interconversion represents an ordered transition between two neuroectodermal differentiation programs rather than random phenotypic instability of cultured cells; S-type variant cells show a molecular phenotype most closely resembling the phenotype of cultured ectomesenchymal cells; and in vitro variant formation of human neuroblastomas may provide an experimental model for the observed in vivo transition of some malignant neuroblastomas into benign ganglioneuromas.
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000032:analysis; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor; D066246:ErbB Receptors