Extracellular matrix rigidity modulates neuroblastoma cell differentiation and N-myc expression.

ABSTRACT: Neuroblastoma is a pediatric malignancy characterized by tremendous clinical heterogeneity, in which some tumors are extremely aggressive while others spontaneously differentiate into benign forms. Because the degree of differentiation correlates with prognosis, and because differentiating agents such as retinoic acid (RA) have proven to decrease mortality, much effort has been devoted to identifying critical regulators of neuroblastoma differentiation in the cellular microenvironment, including cues encoded in the extracellular matrix (ECM). While signaling between tumor cells and the ECM is classically regarded to be based purely on biochemical recognition of ECM ligands by specific cellular receptors, a number of recent studies have made it increasingly clear that the biophysical proper

SUBMITTER: Lam WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2831820 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature