Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027819 (neuroblastoma)
 27,800 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The human ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret), encoding a receptor tyrosine kinase, is highly expressed in neuroblastomas, medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTCs) and pheochromocytomas, which are all tumors of cells originating from the neural crest. In studies on the transcription mechanism of proto-ret, we identified the transcription start site and the promoter region by chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) assay. A sequence upstream from the transcription start site (-167 to +98 bp) showed definite promoter activity in both proto-ret mRNA-positive neuroblastoma NB39-nu cells and proto-ret mRNA-negative HeLa cells. The promoter sequence had a high GC content and contained four tandemly repeated GC boxes without a TATA box. Putative binding sequences for SP-1, AP-2 and epidermal growth factor receptor-specific transcription factor (ETF) and also the transcription-suppressing factor, GC factor (GCF), were found in the repeated GC box region. Southern blot analysis of DNAs of neuroblastoma cell lines and primary MTCs showed that the high proto-ret expression in these tumors is not caused by gross genetic changes in the promoter region, suggesting the possible involvement of a region(s) other than the sequence from -167 to +98 bp or a minor genetic change(s) in the promoter region.
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PMID:Identification and analysis of the ret proto-oncogene promoter region in neuroblastoma cell lines and medullary thyroid carcinomas from MEN2A patients. 135 Jun 70

We examined the expression of ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret) in surgically resected human neuroblastomas. Slot blot RNA hybridization revealed that all 29 neuroblastomas examined expressed the proto-ret, the relative intensity of the hybridization ranging from 1 to 48. No correlation was found between the level of expression of proto-ret and the clinical stage. The level of expression was also not correlated with N-myc amplification, the patient's age or the histological type of the tumor. Based on the previous finding that proto-ret expression is very rarely detected in tumor cell lines other than those of neuroblastoma, proto-ret expression was suggested to be a characteristic of neuroblastomas, and possibly to be involved in the genesis of neuroblastomas.
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PMID:Expression of ret proto-oncogene in human neuroblastomas. 169 38

Previously we observed specific expression of the ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret) in human neuroblastoma cell lines. A neuronal subline and non-neuronal sublines were isolated from the SK-N-SH cell line, which is composed of a heterogeneous cell population. Expression of proto-ret was detected in the neuronal subline, named SH-4305, but not in three non-neuronal sublines. Expression of proto-ret in the SH-4305 cells increased markedly after treatment with retinoic acid for 1 day, with concomitant morphological change, namely neurite outgrowth, and induction of neurofilament mRNA expression. Induction of proto-ret expression seemed to be correlated with neurite outgrowth and increase of neurofilament mRNA expression. These data suggest that the proto-ret product plays a role in neuronal differentiation.
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PMID:Expression of the ret proto-oncogene in human neuroblastoma cell lines and its increase during neuronal differentiation induced by retinoic acid. 176 78

Monoclonal and/or polyclonal antibodies were generated against the products synthesized from two portions of the ret proto-oncogene (c-ret) cDNA expressed in Escherichia coli. These antibodies were reactive in immunoblotting with 150 kd and 170 kd proteins in cell lysates from three human neuroblastoma cell lines expressing the ret proto-oncogene. When the neuroblastoma cells were treated with tunicamycin, a protein with an apparent molecular weight of 120 kd, which is consistent with that of the c-ret protein predicted from the cDNA sequence, appeared on immunoblots. These results indicated that the 150 kd and 170 kd proteins in neuroblastoma cells are produced from a single polypeptide of 120 kd by posttranslational glycosylation. Furthermore, the antibodies detected a unique 190 kd protein as well as 150 kd protein in a cell lysate from THP-1 human monocytic leukemia cell line, suggesting that glycosylated forms of the c-ret protein are different between neuroblastoma and leukemia cells.
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PMID:Identification of the ret proto-oncogene products in neuroblastoma and leukemia cells. 200 Feb 22

The expression of the ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret), which possibly encodes two isoforms of a receptor-type tyrosine kinase, was examined in human tumor cell lines. Expression of the proto-ret mRNA was detected in all 11 neuroblastoma cell lines examined. The level of mRNA varied more than 100-fold in these neuroblastoma cell lines and was particularly high in three of them. On the other hand, 19 non-neuroblastoma tumor cell lines derived from solid tumors and a human diploid fibroblast cell line did not express any detectable levels of proto-ret mRNA. No remarkable amplification of the proto-ret or gross structural changes in the coding region were found in these neuroblastoma cell lines. The specific expression of the proto-ret in neuroblastomas suggests that the proto-ret product may have a role in cellular functions specific to neuroblastoma cells.
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PMID:Specific expression of the ret proto-oncogene in human neuroblastoma cell lines. 221 55

In a papillary thyroid carcinoma cell line, TPC-1, we found transcripts hybridizing to ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret) cDNA probes. The transcripts hybridized to the probes encoding the kinase domain but not to those of the transmembrane and extracellular domains of proto-ret. The sizes of the main transcripts in TPC-1 were aberrant, being 2.0, 2.5, 4.0 and 5.0 kb. In the neuroblastoma cell lines, the transcripts were 3.9, 4.5, 6.0 and 7.0 kb, which have been proved to be generated by alternative splicing and polyadenylation from the non-altered proto-ret oncogene. All of the four transcripts in TPC-1 are about 2 kb smaller than the corresponding ones in the neuroblastoma. From the length of the transcripts, it is suspected that the transcripts in TPC-1 are a rearranged form of proto-ret. This is the first report describing the aberrant transcripts of proto-ret in a human tumor.
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PMID:Presence of aberrant transcripts of ret proto-oncogene in a human papillary thyroid carcinoma cell line. 251 41

The ret transforming gene was activated by recombination between two unlinked segments of human DNA, most likely during transfection of NIH 3T3 cells. To further define this transforming gene, we isolated and sequenced ret cDNA clones. The nucleotide sequence indicates that the active ret transforming gene encodes a fusion protein with a carboxy-terminal domain which is 40 to 50% homologous to members of the tyrosine kinase gene family. This tyrosine kinase domain is preceded by a hydrophobic sequence characteristic of a transmembrane domain. Transcription of the ret tyrosine kinase sequence was detected in the SK-N-SH neuroblastoma, HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia, and THP-1 monocytic leukemia cell lines, but not in 25 other human tumor cell lines surveyed. The ret tyrosine kinase may thus represent a cell surface receptor which is expressed in a restricted range of human cells.
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PMID:ret transforming gene encodes a fusion protein homologous to tyrosine kinases. 303 15

The expression of proto-ret mRNA in adult and embryonic rat tissues were studied. Very low levels of proto-ret transcripts were found in adult rat tissues such as brain, thymus and testis. The sizes of these transcripts were almost the same as those found in human neuroblastoma, SK-N-SH cells. High levels of proto-ret transcripts were found in the rat conceptus on days 9 to 11 of gestation, but not at later stages of development. The level of transcripts in the conceptus on day 10 was about 20-50 times that in adult rat thymus. These results suggest that the proto-ret product, which is possibly a receptor-type tyrosine kinase, has special functions during embryonic development.
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PMID:Expression of proto-ret mRNA in embryonic and adult rat tissues. 339 Jan 85

The histological localization of the ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret) product was examined in neural crest-derived and neuronal tissues together with their neoplastic counterparts by immunohistochemistry using a polyclonal antibody. Schwann cells, neurons, sympathetic ganglia, and cells of the adrenal medulla were positive for the proto-ret product, whereas melanocytes were negative. Positive results were obtained from neural crest-derived tumours such as schwannoma (69 per cent, 11/16), neurofibroma (59 per cent, 13/22), neuroblastoma (80 per cent, 4/5), phaeochromocytoma (100 per cent, 3/3) and medullary thyroid carcinoma (100 per cent, 3/3). The antibody reacted with all of the 22 astrocytomas examined. With negative proto-ret expression in melanocytic tumours, proto-ret expression was considered to correlate with the differentiation of some lineages of neural crest-derived cells.
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PMID:Expression of the ret proto-oncogene product in human normal and neoplastic tissues of neural crest origin. 819 28

The ret proto-oncogene (proto-ret) encodes a receptor type tyrosine kinase with a cadherin-related sequence in the extracellular domain. To investigate whether the proto-Ret protein functions as a cell adhesion molecule like cadherins, we transfected the human proto-ret gene fused to the SV40 promoter or cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter into mouse L cells in which cadherins are not expressed. Three transfectants with high levels of expression of the proto-Ret proteins were obtained. The proto-Ret proteins were expressed as 150 kDa and 170 kDa glycoproteins in transfectants as observed in human neuroblastoma cells. Cell fractionation experiments revealed that the 170 kDa protein but not the 150 kDa protein was detected predominantly in the plasma membrane fraction, indicating that the 170 kDa protein represents the mature glycosylated form of the proto-Ret protein present on the cell surface. Both 150 kDa and 170 kDa proto-Ret proteins showed tyrosine kinase activity in immunocomplex kinase assay. It is known that cadherins have Ca(2+)-dependent homophilic binding activity and are resistant to trypsinization in the presence of Ca2+. When L cells expressing the proto-Ret proteins were treated with trypsin in the presence of Ca2+, the 170 kDa protein was resistant to its digestion. On the other hand, it was completely digested in the presence of EGTA, suggesting the possibility that the proto-Ret protein interacts with Ca2+ like cadherins. However, the transfectants did not show clear adhesive properties in cell aggregation assays.
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PMID:Characterization of the ret proto-oncogene products expressed in mouse L cells. 841 95


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