Nuclear receptor binding protein 2 is induced during neural progenitor differentiation and affects cell survival

We previously identified nuclear receptor binding protein 2 (NRBP2) in a screen for genes induced by differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells. Here we show that during embryonic mouse brain development NRBP2 was expressed in the walls of the third and fourth ventricles, and in the hippocampus. In the adult brain, Purkinje cells of the cerebellum and neurons in the CA3 region of the hippocampus were main sites of NRBP2 expression. Analysis of a pediatric medulloblastoma showed that clusters of NRBP2 positive tumor cells co-expressed neurofilament, but not GFAP. Thus, NRBP2 was associated with neuronal differentiation both in normal and malignant brain tissue. We report that NRBP2 is a 55-60 kDa protein with mainly cytoplasmic location. In vitro, NRBP2 protein levels increased as neural stem/progenitor cells differentiated, and its down regulation by siRNA rendered neural progenitor cells more vulnerable to apoptosis. NRBP2 has no previously assigned function and our studies suggest a role for NRBP2 in neural progenitor cell survival.