[The TH, ELAVL4 and GD2 gene expression as diagnostic markers of bone marrow lesions in patients with neuroblastoma]

The bone marrow (BM) TH, ELAVL4 and GD2 genes expression was evaluated in 331 samples from 57 different stage neuroblastoma (NB) patients, 26 BM samples from patients without NB and samples from 2 NB cell lines (IMR-32, Kelly) by real-time PCR. BM samples were considered NB-positive if PHOX2B expression was found or tumor cells were detected in BM smears. TH expression was not revealed in normal BM and was significantly lower in NB-negative samples. Expression of PHOX2B, TH and GD2 remained stable throughout NB treatment, while ELAVL4 expression was down-modulated. ROC-analysis revealed similar initial and follow-up values of TH and PHOX2B in NB patients' bone marrow making it possible to be used for disease detection and monitoring. The test prediction value was 0.994 and 0.952, respectively. The additional test for TH didn't increase the test effectiveness in comparison with PHOX2B test. ELAVL4 and GD2 assessment didn't add diagnostic value for BM involvement monitoring in NB patients.