Expression of MYCN in Multipotent Sympathoadrenal Progenitors Induces Proliferation and Neural Differentiation, but Is Not Sufficient for Tumorigenesis.

ABSTRACT: Neuroblastoma is a pediatric malignancy of the sympathetic ganglia and adrenal glands, hypothesized to originate from progenitors of the developing sympathetic nervous system. Amplification of the MYCN oncogene is a genetic marker of risk in this disease. Understanding the impact of oncogene expression on sympathoadrenal progenitor development may improve our knowledge of neuroblastoma initiation and progression. We isolated sympathoadrenal progenitor cells from the postnatal murine adrenal gland by sphere culture and found them to be multipotent, generating differentiated colonies of neurons, Schwann cells, and myofibroblasts. MYCN overexpression in spheres promoted commitment to the neural lineage, evidenced by an increased frequency of neuron-containing colonies. MYCN promoted prolifera

SUBMITTER: Mobley BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4519318 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature