title: The expression of cadherins in human neuroblastoma cell lines and clinical tumors.
abstract: Cadherins are Ca(2+)-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecules which play crucial roles in the cell-cell interactions during development, tumorigenesis and metastasis. The absence of N (neural)-cadherin is correlated with the onset of neural crest migration and its reappearance is correlated with the cessation of migration and precedes gangliogenesis. We investigated the expression of cadherins including N-cadherin in five cell lines and eleven clinical specimens of human neuroblastomas, which originated from neural crest cells. We found that three of the neuroblastoma cell lines and all the clinical specimens were positive for the expression of the N-cadherin protein. The other two neuroblastoma cell lines were negative for the expression suggesting they originated from migrating neural crest cells. All these cell lines and clinical samples expressed either cadherin-6, cadherin-11 or both, i.e. cadherins expressed on neural crest cells, supporting their neural crest origin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shimono
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takamatsu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukushige
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D051180:Desmoplakins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D017599:Neuroectodermal Tumors / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012186:Retroperitoneal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495273:CTNNA1 protein, human; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D051180:Desmoplakins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin