Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0677930 (primary tumor)
 20,210 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Three human neuroblastoma cell lines, with or without N-myc amplification, were evaluated for their integrin expression patterns as cultured cells, as well as their nude mouse-borne tumors obtained after subcutaneous (ectopic) or adrenal gland (orthotopic) injection. IMR-32 and LaN1 cells (with amplified N-myc) do not express any of the common integrin subunits that recognize fibronectin or collagens, as determined by immunoprecipitation of cell extracts with specific monoclonal antibodies; the same was true for all subcutaneous or adrenal tumors from IMR-32 or LaN1, indicating that they are not essential during primary tumor formation at either site. SK-N-SH cells (with diploid N-myc) express beta 1, alpha 2, and alpha 3 subunits of expected sizes (with alpha 2 uncleaved at 145 kDa) but do not express alpha 1, alpha 4, alpha 5, alpha V, or beta 3. This expression pattern was conserved in all first-round subcutaneous and adrenal tumor cell populations, as well as in second-round subcutaneous tumors derived from a first-round subcutaneous tumor (no tumors expressed beta 3). One significant difference was noted between subcutaneous and adrenal tumor populations: all first- and second-round subcutaneous tumors expressed high levels of alpha V subunit, while adrenal tumors did not express any alpha V. This result suggests some essential function for alpha V beta 1 during subcutaneous primary tumor formation. Integrin patterns were also evaluated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. SK-N-SH and its derivative tumors expressed heterogeneous amounts of beta 1 and alpha 2 at the cell surface, while only subcutaneous tumor cells expressed alpha V. Parental SK-N-SH cells contained two subpopulations, half of which expresses alpha 3, while the other half does not; all subcutaneous tumor cells retained this two-subpopulation pattern, indicating that primary tumor formation does not lead to clonal dominance of alpha 3- or alpha 3+ cell types in larger primary tumors. While these results suggest a correlation between N-myc amplification and down-regulation of integrin expression in neuroblastoma, they demonstrate conservation of integrin expression during two rounds of primary tumor formation at ectopic or orthotopic sites in a mouse model system, induction and/or selection for alpha V beta 1 expression at the subcutaneous site, and clonal heterogeneity in alpha 3 beta 1 expression throughout primary tumor development.
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PMID:Integrin expression in human neuroblastoma cells with or without N-myc amplification and in ectopic/orthotopic nude mouse tumors. 802 May 86

We have analyzed paired samples of genomic DNA from peripheral leukocyte and primary tumor tissue from nine patients with retinoblastoma (RB) and from two RB cell lines, WERI-Rb-1 and Y79, to detect the molecular alterations of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene (RB-1) and N-myc gene. In Southern analysis, RB-1 deletions in tumor tissues were detected in five patients (56%), one of these revealed a total loss of RB-1. N-myc amplification was found only in one (11.1%) out of nine patients. We also observed a total loss of RB-1 in WERI-Rb-1, and a more than 100-fold amplification of N-myc in Y79. The analysis of the relationship between molecular events and clinical characteristics such as age, sex, tumor laterality did not reveal any specific correlation. These results suggest that genetic backgrounds of RB in Korean patients are quite similar to those of reported cases elsewhere. The high sensitivity of our method in detecting the RB-1 loss indicates that this method can be a useful tool for initially screening a large number of tumors.
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PMID:Loss of retinoblastoma gene and amplification of N-myc gene in retinoblastoma. 834 23

Neuroblastoma is characterized by a wide variability of its clinical course, and considerable effort has been made to identify factors determining outcome in this disease. In a series of 82 patients from a single institution, we have investigated the prognostic impact of multiple clinical, biological and genetic parameters. Univariate testing showed that advanced stage of disease, abdominal localization of the primary tumor, elevated urinary dopamine levels, N-myc amplification (NMA) and loss of heterozygosity of chromosome lp (LOH lp) were related to a poor outcome. Most of these parameters were strong indicators of treatment failure in children younger than 12 months of age but none of them, apart from stage, had a significant prognostic impact in patients older than 12 months at diagnosis. Interestingly, the shorter survival time associated with the presence of lp deletions or NMA appears to be more strongly linked to a poorer outcome after relapse or progression than to a shorter progression-free interval. Although different types of LOH lp have been described in neuroblastoma and may be associated with different biological features, as suggested by a different pattern of catecholamine secretion, tumors with LOH lp present an aggressive clinical behavior, regardless of the type of LOH lp. In this study, LOH lp is an indicator of poor prognosis and identifies a larger population at risk than NMA alone.
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PMID:Clinical relevance of loss heterozygosity of the short arm of chromosome 1 in neuroblastoma: a single-institution study. 860 86

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) is one of the small round cell malignancies of presumed neural crest origin for which an effective treatment has not yet been established. In the present study, a human cell line, designated KU-9, was established from a 27-year-old male patient with PNET of the retroperitoneal cavity and has been successfully maintained in nude mice and in culture. On histological examination, the primary tumor was composed of poorly differentiated small round cells arranged in clusters showing a variety of mitotic changes, and contained Homer-Wright rosettes. The histopathological appearance of the KU-9 xenografts was similar to that of the primary tumor. Electron microscopy revealed neurosecretory granules and cytoplasmic processes in the xenograft. No significant amplification of N-myc gene was observed in the KU-9 cells. The KU-9 cells showed chromosome numbers ranging from 56 to 61 with consistent structural abnormalities being add(2)(q31), +add(11)(p11.2), +add(13)(p11.1), and +del(22)(q12). Cultured KU-9 cells grew exponentially with a doubling time of about 50 h and a time-dependent increase in medium levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) was noted. Serum levels of NSE in KU-9 tumor-bearing nude mice were significantly elevated and a linear relationship between the serum NSE levels and the tumor NSE content or tumor volume was observed, suggesting that serum levels of NSE may reflect the PNET tumor burden and tumor extent. These results indicate that the KU-9 cell line provides a reproducible model system which could be useful in gaining some insight into the histogenesis and oncogenesis of PNET and in establishing an effective treatment for PNET.
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PMID:Establishment of a human cell line secreting neuron-specific enolase from a primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the retroperitoneal cavity. 863 6

A neuroblastoma cell line displaying genetically unique features was established from a stage III case of a 20-month-old girl. Southern blotting by the probe pTNB6, which contains exon 1 of the N-myc gene, showed that the primary tumor had in total 4 aberrant bands beside the normal amplified band. The established cell line NB(TU)1 had an aberrant N-myc band (9.0 kb) in addition to the normal band (2.9 kb). Cytogenetic analysis revealed that NB(TU)1 has a composite karyotype composed of at least 7 related karyotypes, which are pseudo-diploid and contain complex chromosomal abnormalities, including translocations, deletions and homogeneously staining regions (HSRs). Such extensive abnormalities were considered to be prominent among known neuroblastoma cell lines, and it was suggested that NB(TU)1 had acquired a certain type of genetic instability. Analysis of N-myc bands in 11 clones of NB(TU)1 showed that the intensity ratio of the normal-sized band (2.9 kb) and the aberrant one (9.0 kb) markedly varied among clones. Moreover, 3 clones showed an additional band with the size of 3.7 kb, which was detectable neither in the parent NB(TU)1 nor in the primary tumor. Thus, NB(TU)1 was shown to be composed of heterogeneous cell components. To further detect such ongoing chromosomal instability, we examined micronuclei formation. NB(TU)1 yielded a larger number of micronuclei than 5 other neuroblastoma cell lines. We conclude that NB(TU)1 has acquired genetic instability detectable by both Southern blotting and cytogenetic analysis.
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PMID:Extensive genetic heterogeneity in the neuroblastoma cell line NB(TU)1. 937 42

Neuroblastoma, a malignant tumor of infancy and childhood, has some very interesting peculiars: good prognosis, even with disseminated disease, propensity to occasionally undergo spontaneous regression, its ability to undergo spontaneous or induced differentiation to a benign ganglioneuroma. Neuroblastoma may originate anywhere along the sympathetic nervous system chain. The most common site of primary tumor is, however, within the abdomen either in the adrenal gland or in a paraspinal ganglions. A great deal of progress has been made in advancing the knowledge of human neuroblastoma at the cellular and molecular viewpoint. The genetic predisposition to develop the tumor is clarified, a specific oncogene amplified (N-myc) in neuroblastoma cells shows precise prognostic significance and the deletion of chromosome 1's short arm has been defined. Work-up in neuroblastoma's diagnosis include the urine assay for catecholamine metabolites (VMA, HAVA, VLA) and serum assay for the specific markers as neuron-specific enolase (NSE), ferritin, GD2 ganglioside. Imaging include CT-scan, MIGB body-scan and the newest monoclonal antibodies scan. Abdominal tumors are shown in about 75% of children > 12 months old. In 2/3 of cases, tumor is widely disseminated at the time of diagnosis. In the period 1979-94 the Italian Group for Neuroblastoma (GCN-AIEOP) collected 1083 cases of tumors and 5-yrs survival was 45% +/- 2.4 for the patients studied in the period 1979-84, which is increased to 58% +/- 3 for the group of patients 1990-94 (p < 0.001). The overall survival was 53 +/- 1.7. About 5-yrs survival at different stages, AIEOP shows that it is increased from 88% +/- 3.3 (1979-84 group) to 91% +/- 2.8 (1985-92) in the stage I and II (280 cases). In the stage IV survival value improved from 79% +/- 7.1 to 84% +/- 7 (132 cases). No statistical improvement can be observed, anyway. Better improvements can be pointed out in stage III (221 cases, survival from 48% +/- 5.2 (79-84 group) to 69% +/- 4.8 (85-92) and stage IV (483 cases, survival from 16% +/- 2.6 to 28% +/- 3.4) (p < 0.001). Finally we can summarize about neuroblastoma: 1) better prognosis in the first year of life; 2) ability to spontaneous regression, first of all, in stage IVs; 3) partial and provisional response to therapy in advanced stages; 4) no recovery increasing despite advancing in surgery and chemotherapy.
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PMID:[Recent advances on retroperitoneal neuroblastoma]. 941 95

Hel-N1 and HuD belong to the elav gene family and encode neuron-specific RNA-binding proteins that are temporally regulated in neural development. Recently, these genes have been detected in small cell lung carcinoma, a neuroendocrine tumor, with HuD down-regulated in poorly differentiated, variant subsets. We, therefore, sought to determine: (a) the extent to which Hel-N1 and HuD are expressed in neuroblastoma (NB); and (b) whether the individual patterns of expression are associated with clinical features of the tumor. We used a sensitive and quantitative RNase protection assay that reliably distinguishes between these homologous genes, and with it we show that Hel-N1 and HuD transcripts were detected in 100% of cultured cells (11 of 11) and 97% of primary tumor samples (35 of 36). Densitometric quantification of transcripts indicated that the levels of HuD and Hel-N1 varied in all samples. In primary NB tissue, samples that expressed the highest Hel-N1 or HuD levels were N-myc unamplified. With HuD, the level in unamplified primary tumors was significantly higher than that of amplified tumors (0.80 +/- 0.12 versus 0.33 +/- 0.12, P < 0.02). HuD expression in prognostically favorable tumor stages was also significantly higher than unfavorable stages (0.98 +/- 0.19 versus 0.47 +/- 0.08, P < 0.03). In summary, the ubiquitous detection of HuD and Hel-N1 in NB indicates that they are molecular neuronal markers of this tumor. Furthermore, high HuD mRNA levels may predict a clinically favorable outcome.
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PMID:Neuron-specific hel-N1 and HuD as novel molecular markers of neuroblastoma: a correlation of HuD messenger RNA levels with favorable prognostic features. 981 74

The purpose of this paper is to study prognostic factors in neuroblastoma patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Two hundred and eighteen children over 1 year of age and treated for stage 4 neuroblastoma were enrolled in this study. The median age at diagnosis was 39 months, the sex ratio 1.5 and 84% of patients had an abdominal primary tumor. Skeletal disease was detected in 79% of cases and bone marrow involvement in 93%. N-myc oncogene amplification was present in 27% of the patients studied. The probability of event-free survival at 5 years post-diagnosis was 29% in this series. Three major favorable prognostic factors were significant and independent in the multivariate analysis: age under 2 years at diagnosis (P<0.01), absence of bone marrow metastases at diagnosis (P<0.04) and the high-dose conditioning regimen containing busulfanmelphalan combination (P = 0.001). The quality of response to conventional primary chemotherapy was close to significance (P = 0.053). We conclude that factors related to the patient (age) and extent of disease are predictive of outcome in patients with neuroblastoma treated with conventional chemotherapy followed by surgical excision of the primary and consolidation with high-dose chemotherapy. They should be taken into account in future prospective studies. Moreover, the type of conditioning regimen appears to be the most important prognostic factor. This should encourage new investigations into innovative drug combinations.
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PMID:Prognostic factors in metastatic neuroblastoma in patients over 1 year of age treated with high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation: a multivariate analysis in 218 patients treated in a single institution. 1023 Nov 41

c-myc, N-myc and L-myc are the three members of the myc oncoprotein family whose role in the pathogenesis of many human neoplastic diseases has received wide empirical support. In this review, we first summarize data, derived mainly from non-clinical studies, indicating that these oncoproteins actually serve quite different roles in vivo. This concept necessarily lies at the heart of the basis for the observation that the deregulated expression of each MYC gene is reproducibly associated with only certain naturally occurring malignancies in humans and that these genes are not interchangeable with respect to their aberrant functional consequences. We also review evidence implicating each of the above MYC genes in specific neoplastic diseases and have attempted to identify unresolved questions which deserve further basic or clinical investigation. We have made every attempt to review those diseases for which significant and confirmatory evidence, based on studies with primary tumor material, exists to implicate MYC members in their causation and/or progression.
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PMID:MYC oncogenes and human neoplastic disease. 1037 96

Histochemical marker genes were used to "tag" mouse fibrosarcoma or human neuroblastoma cells, providing a better understanding of their subsequent progression and metastasis mechanisms in nude mice. Micrometastases in the lung were initiated from clusters of 2-6 cells rather than single cells in most cases; tumor cells were also visualized binding to the endothelium of small blood vessels to initiate these micrometastases. Shortterm, these mechanisms relied heavily on fluidity of cell surface proteins, rather than nuclear events. Micrometastases in some organs were transient and never became established. Angiogenesis was visualized in both primary tumor systems via "fixation" of the animal's circulation; very small microvessels were growing toward the primary tumor as soon as 48-72 hours post-injection. Marker genes were also valuable for quantitating genetic instability of specific tumor cell populations and potential gene regulatory mechanisms operating in specific organ sites. These latter studies have direct relevance to the significance of N-myc oncogene amplification in neuroblastoma during progression and CD44 gene plasticity of expression in fibrosarcoma during metastasis. Marker gene-tagged single tumor cells can now be analyzed for gene regulatory events in virtually any organ and in combination with laser capture microdissection and other high-resolution methodologies, providing insight into the very earliest gene-regulatory events during micrometastasis.
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PMID:Tagged tumor cells reveal regulatory steps during earliest stages of tumor progression and micrometastasis. 1042 58


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