N-cadherin in neuroblastoma disease: expression and clinical significance

• Published in: PloS one 2012-02, Vol.7 (2), p.e31206-e31206
• Main Authors: Lammens, Tim, Swerts, Katrien, Derycke, Lara, De Craemer, Annemie, De Brouwer, Sara, De Preter, Katleen, Van Roy, Nadine, Vandesompele, Jo, Speleman, Frank, Philippé, Jan, Benoit, Yves, Beiske, Klaus, Bracke, Marc, Laureys, Geneviève
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Angiogenesis inhibitors; Apoptosis; Biology; Biotechnology; Blotting, Western; Bone marrow; Cadherins; Cadherins - antagonists & inhibitors; Cadherins - genetics; Cadherins - metabolism; Cancer metastasis; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell interactions; Cell Proliferation; Child; Child, Preschool; Clinical significance; Female; Fibroblasts; Gene expression; Genomes; Growth factors; Hematology; Homeostasis; Humans; Immunocytochemistry; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Medical research; Medical treatment; Medicine; Metastases; Metastasis; Motility; N-Cadherin; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - genetics; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - metabolism; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - pathology; Neoplasm Staging; Neuroblastoma; Neuroblastoma - genetics; Neuroblastoma - metabolism; Neuroblastoma - secondary; Oncology; Otolaryngology; Patients; Pediatrics; Peptide Fragments - pharmacology; Peptides; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reverse transcription; RNA; RNA, Messenger - genetics; Tissue Array Analysis; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumors
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031206

One of the first and most important steps in the metastatic cascade is the loss of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. N-cadherin, a crucial mediator of homotypic and heterotypic cell-cell interactions, might play a central role in the metastasis of neuroblastoma (NB), a solid tumor of neuroectodermal origin. Using Reverse Transcription Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), Western blot, immunocytochemistry and Tissue MicroArrays (TMA) we demonstrate the expression of N-cadherin in neuroblastoma tumors and cell lines. All neuroblastic tumors (n = 356) and cell lines (n = 10) expressed various levels of the adhesion protein. The N-cadherin mRNA expression was significantly lower in tumor samples from patients suffering metastatic disease. Treatment of NB cell lines with the N-cadherin blocking peptide ADH-1 (Exherin, Adherex Technologies Inc.), strongly inhibited tumor cell proliferation in vitro by inducing apoptosis. Our results suggest that N-cadherin signaling may play a role in neuroblastoma disease, marking involvement of metastasis and determining neuroblastoma cell viability.