High Myc pathway activity and low stage of neuronal differentiation associate with poor outcome in neuroblastoma.

ABSTRACT: The childhood cancer neuroblastoma arises in the developing sympathetic nervous system and is a genotypically and phenotypically heterogeneous disease. Prognostic markers of poor survival probability include amplification of the MYCN oncogene and an undifferentiated morphology. Whereas these features discriminate high- from low-risk patients with precision, identification of poor outcome low- and intermediate-risk patients is more challenging. In this study, we analyze two large neuroblastoma microarray datasets using a priori-defined gene expression signatures. We show that differential overexpression of Myc transcriptional targets and low expression of genes involved in sympathetic neuronal differentiation predicts relapse and death from disease. This was evident not only for high-risk p

SUBMITTER: Fredlund E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2544584 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature