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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Differentiation of the SH-SY5Y Human Neuroblastoma Cell Line
Published on: February 17, 2016
Effect of HFE variants on sphingolipid expression by SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells
F Ali-Rahmani1, J A Hengst, J R Connor
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology H171, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, 500 University Dr., Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
Abstract:
C282Y and H63D are two common variants of the hemochromatosis protein HFE. SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells stably transfected to express either wild type HFE (WT-HFE), or the C282Y or H63D allele were analyzed for effect of expression of the mutant proteins on transcription of 14 enzymes involved in sphingolipid metabolism. Cells expressing the C282Y variant showed significant increases (>2-fold) in transcription of five genes and decreases in two compared to that seen for cells expressing WT-HFE, while cells expressing the H63D variant showed an elevation in transcription of one gene and a decrease in two. These changes were seen as alterations in ganglioside composition, cell surface binding by the binding subunit of cholera toxin, expression of sphingosine-kinase-1 and synthesis of sphingosine-1-phosphate. These changes may explain why C282Y-HFE is a risk factor for colon and breast cancer and possibly protective against Alzheimer's disease while H63D-HFE is a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases.
