title: Genes involved in regulation of stem cell properties: studies on their expression in a small cohort of neuroblastoma patients.
abstract: Cancer stem cells have been isolated from many tumors. Several evidences prove that neuroblastoma contains its own stem cell-like cancer cells. We chose to analyze 20 neuroblastoma tumor samples in the expression of 13 genes involved in the regulation of stem cell properties to evaluate if their misregulation could have a clinical relevance. In several specimens we detected the expression of genes belonging to the OCT3/SOX2/NANOG/KLF4 core circuitry that acts at the highest level in regulating stem cell biology. This result is in agreement with studies showing the existence of malignant stem cells in neuroblastoma. We also observed differences in the expression of some stemness-related genes that may be useful for developing new prognostic analyses. In fact, preliminary data suggests that the presence/absence of UTF1 along with differences in BMI1 mRNA levels could distinguish low grade neuroblastomas from IV stage tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics F Fede, Second University of Naples, Naples 80138, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariarosa A B
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Melone
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giuliano
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Squillaro
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alessio
authors.forename: Fiorina
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casale
authors.forename: Eliseo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mattioli
authors.forename: Marilena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cipollaro
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Galderisi
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D000090062:Kruppel-Like Factor 4; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D000071317:Nanog Homeobox Protein; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C000715467:KLF4 protein, human; D000090062:Kruppel-Like Factor 4; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; C486780:NANOG protein, human; D000071317:Nanog Homeobox Protein; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human; C527782:SOX2 protein, human; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors