This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Matsunaga, T. Articles by Ohnuma, N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Matsunaga, T. Articles by Ohnuma, N.

Enhanced Expression of N-myc Messenger RNA in Neuroblastomas Found by Mass Screening¹

Departments of Pediatric Surgery [T. M., T. H., H. Y., K. K., Y. O., N. O.] and Microbiology [H. S.], Chiba University, School of Medicine, Chiba 260-8677; Division of Pediatric Surgery, Matsudo Municipal Hospital, Chiba 271-0064 [K. K.]; and Division of Surgery, Chiba Children’s Hospital, Chiba 266-0007 [T. E.], Japan

A substantial fraction of neuroblastomas found by mass screening have been suggested to regress spontaneously because of the high incidence of infantile neuroblastomas in the screening population. In this study, 70 neuroblastomas were analyzed for expression of proto-oncogenes related to neuronal differentiation to clarify the biological significance of proto-oncogene expression in the screening-positive and -negative tumors. The tumors consisted of 39 neuroblastomas found by screening (group 1), 16 non-N-myc-amplified neuroblastomas found by clinical symptom(s) (group 2), and 15 N-myc-amplified neuroblastomas found by clinical symptom(s) (group 3). The expression of c-src, trk A, and N-myc in tumor tissues was analyzed by quantitative RNA PCR. Neuronal c-srcN2 expression varied significantly in the following order: group 1 > group 2 > group 3. The level of expression of trk A was markedly reduced in group 3 but did not differ in groups 1 and 2. Most tumors in group 3 overexpressed N-myc. However, N-myc expression in group 1 was significantly higher than that in group 2. Thus, the characteristics of proto-oncogene expression in screening-positive tumors included enhanced expression of c-srcN2 and N-myc mRNA, regardless of nonamplification of N-myc. Our results suggest that the role of N-myc differs in neuroblastomas detected by screening and in N-myc-amplified tumors.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Stock, E. Bozsaky, F. Watzinger, U. Poetschger, L. Orel, T. Lion, A. Kowalska, and P. F. Ambros Genes Proximal and Distal to MYCN Are Highly Expressed in Human Neuroblastoma as Visualized by Comparative Expressed Sequence Hybridization Am. J. Pathol., January 1, 2008; 172(1): 203 - 214. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. X. Tang, H. Zhao, B. Kung, D. Y. Kim, S. L. Hicks, S. L. Cohn, N.-K. Cheung, R. C. Seeger, A. E. Evans, and N. Ikegaki The MYCN Enigma: Significance of MYCN Expression in Neuroblastoma. Cancer Res., March 1, 2006; 66(5): 2826 - 2833. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. P. Venables Aberrant and Alternative Splicing in Cancer Cancer Res., November 1, 2004; 64(21): 7647 - 7654. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Sato, H. Sasaki, S. Kondo, I. Fukai, M. Kiriyama, Y. Yamakawa, and Y. Fujii Expression of the cdc25B mRNA Correlated with that of N-myc in Neuroblastoma Jpn. J. Clin. Oncol., September 1, 2001; 31(9): 428 - 431. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]