Isolation of a variant which has reduced Src activity from SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells

SY-HMs was obtained from SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line transfected with an expression vector, pRc/CMV. SY-HMs showed much lower viability than the parent cells when cultured in low-serum medium. Drug sensitivity examined by MTT method revealed that this clone was highly sensitive to herbimycin A, a Src kinase inhibitor. Consistently with this, tyrosine phosphorylation of Src in this clone was profoundly reduced compared to that in the parent cells, suggesting that the activity of Src is seriously impaired in SY-HMs. It is thus possible that active Src is necessary for the survival of SH-SY5Y cells in low-serum medium. SY-HMs would be useful for further investigation of the role of Src in neuroblastoma cells.