Coordinate changes in neuronal phenotype and surface antigen expression in human neuroblastoma cell variants

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Vol. 47; no. 5; pp. 1383 - 1389
• Main Authors: RETTIG, W. J, SPENGLER, B. A, CHESA, P. G, OLD, L. J, BIEDLER, J. L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American Association for Cancer Research 01.03.1987
• Subjects: Antibodies, Monoclonal - immunology; Antigens, Surface - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line; Humans; Medical sciences; Neuroblastoma - immunology; Neuroblastoma - pathology; Neurology; Neurons - pathology; Phenotype; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor - analysis; Receptors, Cell Surface - analysis; Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor; Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses; Human; Antigen; Phenotype; Nervous system diseases; Immunology; Neuron; Tumor; Neuroblastoma; Child; Tumor cell
• ISSN: 0008-5472; 1538-7445

Human neuroblastoma cells growing in culture offer a unique opportunity to study proliferating human cells with a neuronal phenotype. We have previously identified several neuroblastoma cell lines which show spontaneous conversion (N/S interconversion) between two morphologically distinct cell types: neuroblastic (N-type) cells and variant, substrate-adherent (S-type) cells resembling cultured glial or mesenchymal cells. In the present study, we have used molecular markers to confirm the neuronal phenotype of N-type cells and to demonstrate that S-type cells have a nonneuronal phenotype. Furthermore, we have used these markers, including a series of cell surface differentiation antigens, to compare S-type neuroblastoma cells with a wide range of cultured epithelial, mesenchymal, and neuroectodermal cells. The results suggest that N/S interconversion represents an ordered transition between two neuroectodermal differentiation programs rather than random phenotypic instability of cultured cells; S-type variant cells show a molecular phenotype most closely resembling the phenotype of cultured ectomesenchymal cells; and in vitro variant formation of human neuroblastomas may provide an experimental model for the observed in vivo transition of some malignant neuroblastomas into benign ganglioneuromas.