Neural expression profile of Elav-like genes in human brain.
BACKGROUND
Hel-N1 and HuD belong to the elav gene family and have a considerable role in neuronal development. However, there is only limited information available on the expression profile in human brain and neural tumor cell lines.


METHODS
Therefore, RT-PCR analysis has been performed on human fetal, normal adult, and psychiatric brains (from patients with schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and alcoholism) as well as 20 glioblastoma and 9 medulloblastoma cell lines.


RESULTS
Both, Hel-N1 and HuD were abundantly expressed in all brain samples with no obvious difference. However, the neural tumor cell lines showed a differential expression pattern. The medulloblastoma cell lines expressed at least one of the genes in a frequency of 67% for HuD and 78% for Hel-N1 transcripts, respectively. In contrast to the glioblastoma cell lines, which revealed no evidence for HuD RT-PCR products. Surprisingly, 55% of the glioblastoma cell lines showed Hel-N1 expression.


CONCLUSIONS
These observations indicate that Hel-N1 and HuD participate in molecular processes in human brain, both during development and in the mature adult brain. Hel-N1 and HuD transcriptional activity are stable markers for medulloblastoma cell lines, a tumor, which is thought to be derived from a neuronal precursor cell. The role of Hel-N1 in glioblastomas, the most prominent representative of the glial tumors is presently unclear. This finding is the first indication for a possible involvement of an Elav-like gene product in the glial cell lineage.
Schramm
M
M
Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn Medical Center, Germany.
Falkai
P
P
Pietsch
T
T
Neidt
I
I
Egensperger
R
R
Bayer
T A
TA
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000378:metabolism; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D051959:ELAV Proteins; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008527:Medulloblastoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009423:Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured