[Suppression of N-myc over-expression in human neuroblastic cells by human gamma-interferon]

In the previous study, it was shown that the treatment of human neuroblastoma cells with human interferon-gamma (HuIFN-gamma) induced the morphological changes. However, the treatment with human interferon-alpha (HuIFN-alpha) or -beta (HuIFN-beta) did not induce them. In the present study, the effect of HuIFNs on the overexpression of N-myc of the human neuroblastoma cells (GOTO strain) is examined. The treatment of GOTO cells with rHuIFN-gamma inhibits the overexpression of N-myc, and its degree is dependent on the duration of the treatment. However, HuIFN-alpha and HuIFN-beta did not inhibit the overexpression of N-myc. This suggests that the oncogene N-myc may have relation to the morphological differentiation of human neuroblastoma cells because only the HuIFN-gamma, which induces the morphological differentiation, inhibits the overexpression of N-myc.