Induction of morphological and functional differentiation of human neuroblastoma cells by miR-124

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumour in children, and differentiation is considered its most appropriate therapy. In this work, we studied effects of miR-124 overexpression on differentiation in M17 cell line as a model of neuroblastoma cancer. Influence of miR-124 overexpression on differentiation in M17 cells was studied. M17 cells were infected with lentivirus that contained miR-124 precursor sequence and followed for 2 weeks to differentiate. Ectopic expression of miR-124 in M17 cells changed the shape of spherical undifferentiated cells to cells with extended neurites that formed neuronal networks. Overexpression of MiR-124 respectively increased the expression level of markers of β-Tubulin III, MAP2, SYN, NF-M and Nestin by 16-, 5-, 4-, 2.3- and 2-folds at the messenger RNA level. MiR-124 overexpression also increased the protein levels of β-Tubulin III and MAP2. Moreover, exogenous expression of miR-124 significantly increased the intracellular calcium in differentiated M17 cells. Since miR-124 is naturally expressed in neuronal cells and is downregulated in neuroblastoma cancer cells, differentiation with this type of microRNA can be a novel treatment for neuroblastoma cancer.