Hox-C9 activates the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis and is associated with spontaneous regression in neuroblastoma.

ABSTRACT: Neuroblastoma is an embryonal malignancy of the sympathetic nervous system. Spontaneous regression and differentiation of neuroblastoma is observed in a subset of patients, and has been suggested to represent delayed activation of physiologic molecular programs of fetal neuroblasts. Homeobox genes constitute an important family of transcription factors, which play a fundamental role in morphogenesis and cell differentiation during embryogenesis. In this study, we demonstrate that expression of the majority of the human HOX class I homeobox genes is significantly associated with clinical covariates in neuroblastoma using microarray expression data of 649 primary tumors. Moreover, a HOX gene expression-based classifier predicted neuroblastoma patient outcome independently of age, stage and M

SUBMITTER: Kocak H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3668636 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature