A comparative analysis of neuroblastic and substrate-adherent human neuroblastoma cell lines

In human neuroblastoma cell cultures, two phenotypes with differing biological properties have been described: neuroblastic (N) and substrate-adherent (Schwannian or S). In nude mice, N cells are rapidly growing, clonigenic in soft agar, and tumorigenic, whereas S cells are not. The difference in malignant properties between these two cell types and their ability to interconvert in vitro may have clinical relevance. In an attempt to identify genes that may be important in the phenotypic differences and the interconversion, the authors analyzed five representative N and three S cell lines for differential expression of six genes relevant to uncontrolled growth. Beta2-microglobulin was the only gene measured that showed differential expression between the N and S cell lines. This finding supports the theory that beta2-microglobulin and class I MHC expression are markers for differentiation as well as the use of beta2-microglobulin as a differentiation marker in neuroblastoma. The data also suggest that a disregulation of the beta2-microglobulin gene may be partly responsible for the tumorigenicity of the N phenotype.