title: Expression of c-ErbB2 in human neuroblastoma tissues, adrenal medulla adjacent to tumor, and developing mouse neural crest cells.
abstract: We have examined the expression of c-ErbB2 in primary neuroblastoma tissues, mouse neural crest-derived tissues, and human adrenal gland adjacent to neuroblastoma tissue and of age-matched controls. c-ErbB2 expression was observed in approximately 60% of cases analyzed, and there were two staining patterns; one showed focal and cytoplasmic and the other showed diffuse and membrane staining patterns. The expression of c-ErbB2 in neuroblastoma tissues was confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis. Diffuse and membrane staining of c-ErbB2 was well correlated with high urinary catecholamine secretion. In mouse tissues, cytoplasmic expression of c-ErbB2 was observed in immature peripheral neurons and adrenomedullary cells. In mature neurons, the immunoreactivity was confined to the plasma membrane. These results suggest that the expression of c-ErbB2 in neuroblastoma reflects the phenotype of developing peripheral neurons. Postnatal human and mouse adrenomedullary cells lacked c-ErbB2 immunoreactivity, although apparently normal adrenomedullary cells adjacent to neuroblastoma tissues showed strong cytoplasmic expression of c-ErbB2. It is not known whether the phenotypic conversion of adjacent adrenal medullary cells had occurred before or after tumor progression at present.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goji
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mabuchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sano
mesh_terms: D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D015870:Gene Expression; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D015335:Molecular Probes / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D015335:Molecular Probes