CASZ1, a candidate tumor-suppressor gene, suppresses neuroblastoma tumor growth through reprogramming gene expression

• Published in: Cell death and differentiation 2011-07, Vol.18 (7), p.1174-1183
• Main Authors: Liu, Z, Yang, X, Li, Z, McMahon, C, Sizer, C, Barenboim-Stapleton, L, Bliskovsky, V, Mock, B, Ried, T, London, W B, Maris, J, Khan, J, Thiele, C J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/45/612/1244; 692/699/67/1922; Apoptosis; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cancer research; Cell Adhesion; Cell Biology; Cell Cycle Analysis; Cell death; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Cellular Reprogramming; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 1; DNA-Binding Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Drosophila; Epigenetics; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genes, Tumor Suppressor; Histopathology; Humans; Infant; Insects; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Life Sciences; Medical prognosis; Medical research; N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein; Nervous system; Neuroblastoma; Neuroblastoma - genetics; Neuroblastoma - metabolism; Neuroblastoma - pathology; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Oncogene Proteins - metabolism; Oncology; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Retinoids - pharmacology; RNA Interference; RNA, Small Interfering - metabolism; Signal transduction; Stem Cells; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - antagonists & inhibitors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Tumorigenesis; Tumors
• ISSN: 1350-9047; 1476-5403
• DOI: 10.1038/cdd.2010.187

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a common childhood malignant tumor of the neural crest-derived sympathetic nervous system. In NB the frequent loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 1p raises the possibility that this region contains tumor-suppressor genes whose inactivation contributes to tumorigenesis. The human homolog of the Drosophila neural fate determination gene CASZ1, a zinc-finger transcription factor, maps to chromosome 1p36.22, a region implicated in NB tumorigenesis. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that low- CASZ1 expression is significantly correlated with increased age (≥18 months), Children's Oncology Group high-risk classification, 1p LOH and MYCN amplification (all P