title: Involvement of the NGFI-A gene in the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells.
abstract: The transcription factor NGFI-A is an early response gene that has been implicated in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation and, more recently, in apoptosis. This gene is expressed in many tissues, and is very abundant in the brain. However, little is known about its functional role in the differentiation of this tissue. In the present work we investigated the role of NGFI-A in serum withdrawal-induced differentiation in N2A neuroblastoma cells. To do so, we studied the effect of NGFI-A antisense oligonucleotides and NGFI-A overexpression on this process. We show that neuroblastoma cells treated with an NGFI-A antisense oligonucleotide do not undergo normal morphological differentiation after serum withdrawal, whereas N2A cells overexpressing this gene extend long neurites, even in the presence of serum. We also show that NGFI-A overexpression is accompanied by an increase in the amount of phosphorylated microtubule-associated protein MAP1B, which has been associated with neurite outgrowth. Our results suggest that the NGFI-A gene plays an important role in neurite extension.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, CSIC, Arturo Duperier, 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pignatelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cortés-Canteli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perez-Castillo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D051766:Early Growth Response Protein 1; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics*; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D051766:Early Growth Response Protein 1; C486109:Egr1 protein, mouse; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D014157:Transcription Factors; C085284:microtubule-associated protein 1B