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Published on: January 20, 2019
An investigation into the role of Bcl-2 in neuroendocrine differentiation
I S Cadden1, B T Johnston, R Connolly
1Department of Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, Mulhouse Building, RGH, Belfast BT12 6BJ, N. Ireland, UK.
Introduction:
In addition to its role in apoptosis suppression, Bcl-2 has been reported to be co-expressed with neuroendocrine markers in several tissues, leading to speculation that this oncoprotein may promote neuroendocrine differentiation.
Aim:
This study investigated whether Bcl-2 modulated neuroendocrine biopeptide expression.
Methods:
Levels of chromogranin A, neurone specific enolase, protein gene peptide 9.5, pancreatic polypeptide, and the chromogranin-derived peptides, intervening peptide and vasostatin-1 were examined by immunocytochemistry in rat phaeochromocytoma (PC12) cell lines genetically engineered to over-express Bcl-2 and their mock-transfected controls. Intensity of fluorescence was graded using a semi-quantitative scale from (-) indicating negative expression to (+++) indicating intense positivity.
Results:
Mann-Whitney U analysis indicated that no significant differences in expression existed between control and Bcl2 over-expressing cell lines for any of the six peptides examined.
Conclusions:
The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that Bcl-2 promotes the acquisition of a neuroendocrine phenotype.
