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Published on: August 25, 2021
Outcome of the p53-mediated DNA damage response in neuroblastoma is determined by morphological subtype and MYCN
Jane Carr-Wilkinson1, Rebecca Griffiths, Rebecca Elston
1Newcastle Cancer Centre, Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
Background:
MYCN oncogene amplification occurs in 20-25% of neuroblastoma and is associated with a poor prognosis. We previously reported that MYCN amplified (MNA) p53 wild-type neuroblastoma cell lines failed to G1 arrest in response to irradiation, but this could not be attributed to MYCN alone.
Hypothesis:
Genes co-amplified with MYCN and/or the predominant cell type, neuronal (N) or substrate adherent (S) phenotypes determine the downstream response to DNA damage in neuroblastoma cell lines.
Methods:
The MYCN amplicons of five MNA and two non-MNA cell line were mapped using 50K Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) arrays. One MNA (NBL-W) and one non-MNA neuroblastoma cell line (SKNSH) were sub-cloned into N and S-type cells and the p53 pathway investigated after irradiation induced DNA damage. To determine the role of p53 it was knocked down using siRNA.
Results:
No genes with a potential role in cell cycle regulation were consistently co-amplified in the MNA cell lines studied. High MYCN expressing NBLW-N cells failed to G1 arrest following irradiation and showed impaired induction of p21 and MDM2, whereas low MYCN expressing NBLW-S cells underwent a G1 arrest with induction of p21 and MDM2. Conversely N type cells underwent higher levels of apoptosis than S type cells. Following p53 knockdown in SHSY5Y N-type cells there was a decrease in apoptosis.
Conclusions:
The downstream response to DNA damage in p53 wild-type neuroblastoma cell lines is p53 dependent, and determined both by the morphological sub-type and MYCN expression.
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