Involvement of GTA protein NC2β in Neuroblastoma pathogenesis suggests that it physiologically participates in the regulation of cell proliferation

Di, Ragusa Marco, Barbagallo Davide, Duro, Guglielmino, Majorana Alessandra, Giunta Veronica, Rapisarda Antonella, Tricarichi Elisa, Miceli Marco, Angelica Rosario, Grillo Agata, Banelli Barbara, Defferari Isabella, Forte Stefano, Laganà Alessandro, Bosco Camillo, Giugno Rosalba, Pulvirenti Alfredo, Ferro Alfredo, Grzeschik, Tonini, Romani Massimo, Purrello Michele

Description

The General Transcription Apparatus (GTA) comprises more than one hundred proteins, including RNA Polymerases, GTFs, TAFs, Mediator, and cofactors such as heterodimeric NC2. This complexity contrasts with the simple mechanical role that these proteins are believed to perform and suggests a still uncharacterized participation to important biological functions, such as the control of cell proliferation. Results To verify our hypothesis, we analyzed the involvement in Neuroblastoma (NB) pathogenesis of GTA genes localized at 1p, one of NB critical regions: through RT-PCR of fifty eight NB biopsies, we demonstrated the statistically significant reduction of the mRNA for NC2β (localized at 1p22.1) in 74% of samples (p = 0.0039). Transcripts from TAF13 and TAF12 (mapping at 1p13.3 and 1p35.3, respectively) were also reduced, whereas we didn't detect any quantitative alteration of the mRNAs from GTF2B and NC2α (localized at 1p22-p21 and 11q13.3, respectively). We confirmed these data by comparing tumour and constitutional DNA: most NB samples with diminished levels of NC2β mRNA had also genomic deletions at the corresponding locus. Conclusion Our data show that NC2β is specifically involved in NB pathogenesis and may be considered a new NB biomarker: accordingly, we suggest that NC2β, and possibly other GTA members, are physiologically involved in the control of cell proliferation. Finally, our studies unearth complex selective mechanisms within NB cells.

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English

Extrait

Molecular Cancer

BioMedCentral

Open Access Research Involvement of GTA protein NC2βin Neuroblastoma pathogenesis suggests that it physiologically participates in the regulation of cell proliferation 1 1 1 1 Cinzia Di Pietro , Marco Ragusa , Davide Barbagallo , Laura R Duro , 1 1 1 Maria R Guglielmino , Alessandra Majorana , Veronica Giunta , 1 1 1 1 Antonella Rapisarda , Elisa Tricarichi , Marco Miceli , Rosario Angelica , 2 3 4 1 Agata Grillo , Barbara Banelli , Isabella Defferari , Stefano Forte , 1 1 5 5 Alessandro Laganà , Camillo Bosco , Rosalba Giugno , Alfredo Pulvirenti , 1 6 7 4 Alfredo Ferro , Karl H Grzeschik , Andrea Di Cataldo , Gian P Tonini , 3 1 Massimo Romani and Michele Purrello*

1 Address: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Sezione di Biologia Generale, Biologia Cellulare, Genetica Molecolare G Sichel, Unità di Biologia 2 3 Genomica e dei Sistemi Complessi, Genetica, Bioinformatica, Università di Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy, Labogen, 95124 Catania, Italy, Istituto 4 Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro (IST), Sezione di Genetica dei Tumori, 16132 Genova, Italy, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro (IST), 5 Sezione di Oncologia Traslazionale Pediatrica, 16132 Genova, Italy, Dipartimento di Matematica ed Informatica, Università di Catania, 95123 6 7 Catania, Italy, Medizinisches Zentrum für Humangenetik, Philipps Universität, 35037 Marburg, Germany and Dipartimento di Pediatria, Università di Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy Email: Cinzia Di Pietro  [e-mail]; Marco Ragusa  [e-mail]; Davide Barbagallo  [e-mail]; Laura R Duro  [e-mail]; Maria R Guglielmino  [e-mail]; Alessandra Majorana  [e-mail]; Veronica Giunta  [e-mail]; Antonella Rapisarda  [e-mail]; Elisa Tricarichi  [e-mail]; Marco Miceli  [e-mail]; Rosario Angelica  [e-mail]; Agata Grillo  [e-mail]; Barbara Banelli  [e-mail]; Isabella Defferari  [e-mail]; Stefano Forte  [e-mail]; Alessandro Laganà  [e-mail]; Camillo Bosco  [e-mail]; Rosalba Giugno  [e-mail]; Alfredo Pulvirenti  [e-mail]; Alfredo Ferro  [e-mail]; Karl H Grzeschik  [e-mail]marburg.de; Andrea Di Cataldo  [e-mail]; Gian P Tonini  [e-mail]; Massimo Romani  [e-mail]; Michele Purrello*  [e-mail] * Corresponding author

Published: 6 June 2008 Received: 15 February 2008 Accepted: 6 June 2008 Molecular Cancer2008,7:52 doi:10.1186/14764598752 This article is available from: http://www.molecularcancer.com/content/7/1/52 © 2008 Di Pietro et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract Background:The General Transcription Apparatus (GTA) comprises more than one hundred proteins, including RNA Polymerases, GTFs, TAFs, Mediator, and cofactors such as heterodimeric NC2. This complexity contrasts with the simple mechanical role that these proteins are believed to perform and suggests a still uncharacterized participation to important biological functions, such as the control of cell proliferation. Results:To verify our hypothesis, we analyzed the involvement in Neuroblastoma (NB) pathogenesis of GTA genes localized at 1p, one of NB critical regions: through RTPCR of fifty eight NB biopsies, we demonstrated the statistically significant reduction of the mRNA for NC2β (localized at 1p22.1) in 74% of samples (p = 0.0039). Transcripts from TAF13 and TAF12 (mapping at 1p13.3 and 1p35.3, respectively) were also reduced, whereas we didn't detect any quantitative

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