tretinoin and Medulloblastoma

Prolonged cis-retinoic acid (RA) exposure contributes to premature epiphyseal closure. cis-RA is administered in various treatment regimens for pediatric cancers, thus increasing the risk for bone deformities and compromised growth.. We present a case of premature epiphyseal closure in a 9-year-old female with a history of medulloblastoma and treatment with a multimodal regimen including cis-RA. She was subsequently diagnosed with radiation-induced endocrine late effects including hypothyroidism and growth hormone deficiency (GHD). Seven months after initiation of GH therapy, an increased prominence of the wrists and knees combined with a deceleration in growth velocity prompted further evaluation; radiographs revealed bilateral premature closure of the distal femur and proximal tibia growth plates despite normal left wrist bone age.. High doses of vitamin A and its analogs are linked to premature closure of the lower-extremity growth plates in animals and children. Pediatric brain tumor patients are at increased risk of growth failure due to concurrent radiation-induced GHD, damage to the spinal bones, and cis-RA-associated premature closure of the lower-extremity growth plates, with significant reduction in adult stature. A better appreciation of the detrimental effect of cis-RA on the growing skeleton is needed to monitor at-risk patients and to provide timely interventions.

Topics: Adult; Bone Diseases; Child; Female; Growth Disorders; Growth Plate; Human Growth Hormone; Humans; Lower Extremity; Medulloblastoma; Tretinoin

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common pediatric brain tumor. Current treatment regimes consisting of primary surgery followed by radio- and chemotherapy, achieve 5-year overall survival rates of only about 60 %. Therapy-induced endocrine and neurocognitive deficits are common late adverse effects. Thus, improved antitumor strategies are urgently needed. In this study, we combined irradiation (IR) together with epigenetic modifiers and differentiation inducers in a multimodal approach to enhance the efficiency of tumor therapy in MB and also assessed possible late adverse effects on neurogenesis.. In three human MB cell lines (DAOY, MEB-Med8a, D283-Med) short-time survival (trypan blue exclusion assay), apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle distribution, formation of gH2AX foci, and long-term reproductive survival (clonogenic assay) were analyzed after treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-azadC), valproic acid (VPA), suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA), abacavir (ABC), all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and resveratrol (RES) alone or combined with 5-aza-dC and/or IR. Effects of combinatorial treatments on neurogenesis were evaluated in cultured murine hippocampal slices from transgenic nestin-CFPnuc C57BL/J6 mice. Life imaging of nestin-positive neural stem cells was conducted at distinct time points for up to 28 days after treatment start.. All tested drugs showed a radiosynergistic action on overall clonogenic survival at least in two-outof-three MB cell lines. This effect was pronounced in multimodal treatments combining IR, 5-aza-dC and a second drug. Hereby, ABC and RES induced the strongest reduction of clongenic survival in all three MB cell lines and led to the induction of apoptosis (RES, ABC) and/or autophagy (ABC). Additionally, 5-aza-dC, RES, and ABC increased the S phase cell fraction and induced the formation of gH2AX foci at least in oneout-of-three cell lines. Thereby, the multimodal treatment with 5-aza-dC, IR, and RES or ABC did not change the number of normal neural progenitor cells in murine slice cultures.. In conclusion, the radiosensitizing capacities of epigenetic and differentiation-inducing drugs presented here suggest that their adjuvant administration might improve MB therapy. Thereby, the combination of 5-aza-dC/IR with ABC and RES seemed to be the most promising to enhance tumor control without affecting the normal neural precursor cells.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Azacitidine; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Combined Modality Therapy; Decitabine; Dideoxynucleosides; Epigenesis, Genetic; Humans; Hydroxamic Acids; Medulloblastoma; Mice; Neurogenesis; Radiation-Sensitizing Agents; Resveratrol; Stilbenes; Treatment Outcome; Tretinoin; Valproic Acid; Vorinostat; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Human medulloblastoma (MB) is a malignant brain tumor that comprises four distinct molecular subgroups including the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH)-MB group. A leading cause of the SHH subgroup is an aberrant activation of the SHH pathway, a developmental signaling that regulates postnatal development of the cerebellum by promoting the mitotic expansion of granule neural precursors (GNPs) in the external granule layer (EGL). The abnormal SHH signaling pathway drives not only SHH-MB but also its cancer stem-like cells (SLCs), which represent a fraction of the tumor cell population that maintain cancer growth and have been associated with high grade tumors. Here, we report the first proteomic analysis of human SHH-MB SLCs before and after Retinoic Acid (RA)-induced differentiation. A total of 994 nLC-MS buckets were statistically analysed returning 68 modulated proteins between SLCs and their differentiated counterparts. Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) was one of the proteins that characterized the protein profile of SLCs. By means of Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), Genomatix analysis and extending the network obtained using the differentially expressed proteins we found a correlation between Hsp70 and the NF-κB complex. A key driver of the SHH-MB group is cMET whose downstream proliferation/survival signalling is indeed via PI3K/Akt/NF-κB. We confirmed the results of the proteomic analysis by western blot, underlining that a P-p65/NF-κB activatory complex is highly expressed in SLCs. Taking together these results we define a new protein feature of SHH-MB SLCs.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Differentiation; Hedgehog Proteins; Humans; Infant; Medulloblastoma; Neoplastic Stem Cells; Proteome; Proteomics; Signal Transduction; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood with a 5-year survival of approximately 60%. We have recently shown that treatment of human MB cells with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) reduces the clonogenic survival significantly. Here, we tested combinatorial effects of 5-aza-dC with other epigenetic (valproic acid, SAHA) and differentiation-inducing drugs (resveratrol, abacavir, retinoic acid) on human MB cells in vitro to intensify the antitumor therapy further.. Three human MB cell lines were treated with 5-aza-dC alone or in combination for three or six days. Metabolic activity was measured by WST-1 assay. To determine long-term reproductive survival, clonogenic assays were performed. Induction of DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair was measured by γH2AX assay.. The applied single drugs, except for ATRA, reduced the metabolic activity dose-dependently in all MB cell lines. Longer treatment times enhanced the reduction of metabolic activity by 5-aza-dC. Combinatorial treatments showed differential, cell line-dependent responses indicating an important impact of the genetic background. 5-Aza-dC together with resveratrol was found to exert the most significant inhibitory effects on metabolic activity in all cell lines. 5-aza-dC alone reduced the clonogenicity of MB cells significantly and induced DSB with no further changes after adjuvant administration of resveratrol.. The observed significant decrease in metabolic activity by combinatorial treatment of MB cells with 5-aza-dC and resveratrol does not translate into long-term reproductive survival deficiency in vitro. Further studies in animal models are needed to clarify the resveratrol-mediated anticancer mechanisms in vivo.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Azacitidine; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Decitabine; DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Epigenesis, Genetic; Humans; Medulloblastoma; Neoplasm Grading; Tretinoin; Tumor Stem Cell Assay; Valproic Acid

Medulloblastoma cells exhibit varied responses to therapy by all-trans retinoic acid (RA). The underlying mechanism for such diverse effects however remains largely unclear. In this study, we attempted to elucidate the molecular basis of RA resistance through the study of RA signaling components in both RA-sensitive (Med-3) and RA-resistant (UW228-2 and UW228-3) medulloblastoma cells. The results revealed that RARα/β/γ and RXRα/β/γ were found in the three cell lines. Expression of CRABP-I and CRABP-II was seen in Med-3 cells, up-regulated when treated with RA, but was absent in UW228-2 and UW228-3 cells regardless of RA treatment. Bisulfite sequencing revealed 8 methylated CG sites at the promoter region of CRABP-II in UW228-2 and UW228-3 but not in Med-3 cells. Demethylation by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine recovered CRABP-II expression. Upon restoration of CRABP-II expression, both UW228-2 and UW228-3 cells responded to RA treatment by forming neuronal-like differentiation, synaptophysin expression, β-III tubulin upregulation, and apoptosis. Furthermore, CRABP-II specific siRNA reduced RA sensitivity in Med-3 cells. Tissue microarray-based immunohistochemical staining showed variable CRABP-II expression patterns among 104 medulloblastoma cases, ranging from negative (42.3%), partly positive (14.4%) to positive (43.3%). CRABP-II expression was positively correlated with synaptophysin (rs = 0.317; p = 0.001) but not with CRABP-I expression (p > 0.05). In conclusion, aberrant methylation in CRABP-II reduces the expression of CRABP-II that in turn confers RA resistance in medulloblastoma cells. Determination of CRABP-II expression or methylation status may enable a personalized RA therapy in patients with medulloblastomas and other types of cancers.

Topics: Azacitidine; Base Sequence; Cell Line, Tumor; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; DNA Methylation; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Medulloblastoma; Molecular Sequence Data; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Receptors, Retinoic Acid; Retinoic Acid 4-Hydroxylase; RNA, Small Interfering; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Signal Transduction; Tissue Array Analysis; Transfection; Tretinoin

In our previous study we evaluated the antitumor effect of herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase gene (HSV-tk) on human medulloblastomas (MBs) in a therapeutic delivery system using the immortalized neural stem cell (NSC) line C17.2. However, our findings indicated that the bystander effect between C17.2tk and Daoy MB cells was weak compared to the bystander effect between NSCtk and C6 glioma cells. Gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) is the main mechanism mediating the bystander effect in HSV-tk gene therapy. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) has been shown to up-regulate the expression of Connexin43 and GJIC. In this study we investigated the synergistic effect of ATRA and HSV-tk gene therapy in the treatment of MBs. We found that the expression of Connexin43 in Daoy cells was significantly increased when cells were exposed to 3μmol/l of ATRA (P<0.05). After co-culturing C17.2tk cells with Daoy cells at different ratios ranging from 1:1 to 1:16, ATRA significantly increased the bystander anti-tumor effect compared to ATRA-untreated cells (P<0.05). In intracranial co-implantation experiments, mice co-implanted with C17.2tk/Daoy cells and treated with a combination of ATRA and GCV had significantly smaller tumors compared to the animals treated with GCV alone (P<0.05). Together, our results show that ATRA enhanced the tumoricidal effect in HSVtk/GCV suicide gene therapy against Daoy MB cells by strengthening the bystander effect in vitro and in vivo.

Topics: Animals; Bystander Effect; Cell Line; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Connexin 43; Genes, Transgenic, Suicide; Genetic Therapy; Humans; Isoquinolines; Male; Medulloblastoma; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Simplexvirus; Stimulation, Chemical; Thymidine Kinase; Tretinoin; Up-Regulation

The homeobox transcription factor OTX2 plays an essential role during embryonic brain development. It is normally silenced in the adult brain, but is overexpressed by genomic amplification or other mechanisms in the majority of medulloblastomas (MBs). Retinoic acids (RAs) can suppress OTX2 expression and inhibit MB growth. In this study, 9-cis RA most potently inhibited MB cell growth. 9-cis RA functions through the downregulation of OTX2 expression, which subsequently induces neuronal differentiation of OTX2-expressing cells. Treatment with 9-cis RA reduced the growth of D425 flank xenograft tumors in mice. In an intracranial model, however, MB tumors showed resistance to 9-cis RA treatment, and we implicated fibroblast growth factor (FGF) as a potential mediator of resistance to RA therapy. These findings suggest a mechanism for RA-mediated anti-tumor effect on OTX2-positive MB cells and indicate that therapeutic targeting of OTX2 might be effective if FGF pathway-mediated resistance can be overcome.

Topics: Animals; Brain Neoplasms; Cell Line, Tumor; Down-Regulation; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Female; Medulloblastoma; Mice; Mice, Nude; Otx Transcription Factors; Tretinoin; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Caspase-8 is frequently deleted or silenced in neuroblastoma and other solid tumor such as medulloblastoma and small cell lung carcinoma. Caspase-8 expression can be re-established in neuroblastoma cell lines by treatment with demethylating agents or with IFN-gamma. Here we show that four different retinoic acid (RA) derivatives also increase caspase-8 protein expression in neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma and small cell lung carcinoma cell lines. This increase in protein expression is mirrored by an increase in RNA expression in NB cells. However, the promoter region of the caspase-8 gene was not responsible for the induction of caspase-8 expression. Rather, we identified another intronic region containing a CREB binding site that was required for maximal induction of caspase-8 via RA. DNA-protein interaction assays revealed increased phospho-CREB binding to this response element in RA-treated NB cells. Furthermore, mutations of the CREB binding site completely blocked caspase-8 induction in the luciferase reporter system assay and transfection of dominant-negative form of CREB repressed the up-regulation of caspase-8 by RA. Importantly, RA-released cells maintained caspase-8 expression for at least 2-5 days and were more sensitive to doxorubicin and TNFalpha. Thus, RA treatment in conjunction with TNFalpha and/or subsets of cytotoxic agents may have therapeutic benefits.

Topics: Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Blotting, Western; Carcinoma, Small Cell; Caspase 8; Cell Proliferation; Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; DNA Methylation; Doxorubicin; Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; Humans; Introns; Luciferases; Lung Neoplasms; Medulloblastoma; Mutation; Neuroblastoma; Phosphorylation; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Response Elements; RNA, Messenger; Signal Transduction; Transcription, Genetic; Transcriptional Activation; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Medulloblastomas (MBs) are the most common malignant brain tumors of childhood. Antitumor agents promoting long-term survival with limited toxicities are thus far lacking. Preliminary findings suggest that retinoic acid (RA) derivatives (retinoids) exert antitumor effects by inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing cell differentiation, apoptosis, and growth arrest, and RAs have been specifically shown to induce apoptosis in some MB cells. However, there is no conclusive evidence of retinoids inducing cell growth arrest in MBs. The aim of this study is to investigate whether retinoids play a role in cell-cycle arrest of MB cells. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) was selected for these studies as it is known to have the capacity of inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in other types of cancer cells. Three MB cell lines (DAOY, D283 and D341) were subjected to ATRA treatment. The proportions of cells in the G0/G1 phase of cell cycle and in apoptosis were evaluated. The results showed that cell growth arrest, rather than apoptosis, was the main mechanism by which RA inhibited cell proliferation in the MB cell line DAOY, but not in the others (D283 and D341). Decreased expression of CyclinD1 and C-myc which regulate the transition of cell cycle was observed in DAOY cells following drug treatment, suggesting that these genes might be involved in ATRA retardation of cell cycle progression. Expression of RARbeta, a mediator of the action of retinoids, was also induced by RA in DAOY cells, implying that RAR-beta might also be involved in the mechanism of RA-induced cell cycle arrest. In conclusion, we have provided evidence for the first time that RA may induce cell cycle arrest in vitro in DAOY MB cells via inhibition of CyclinD1 or C-myc.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Cell Cycle; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Cyclin D1; Humans; Medulloblastoma; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; Receptors, Retinoic Acid; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Tretinoin

Through digital karyotyping of permanent medulloblastoma cell lines, we found that the homeobox gene OTX2 was amplified more than 10-fold in three cell lines. Gene expression analyses showed that OTX2 transcripts were present at high levels in 14 of 15 (93%) medulloblastomas with anaplastic histopathologic features. Knockdown of OTX2 expression by siRNAs inhibited medulloblastoma cell growth in vitro, whereas pharmacologic doses of all-trans retinoic acid repressed OTX2 expression and induced apoptosis only in medulloblastoma cell lines that expressed OTX2. These observations suggest that OTX2 is essential for the pathogenesis of anaplastic medulloblastomas and that these tumors may be amenable to therapy with all-trans-retinoic acid.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Brain Neoplasms; Cell Growth Processes; Cell Line, Tumor; Gene Amplification; Homeodomain Proteins; Humans; Medulloblastoma; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Oncogenes; Otx Transcription Factors; RNA, Small Interfering; Trans-Activators; Tretinoin

Current treatments for childhood brain tumor medulloblastoma (MB), radiation and chemotherapy, lead to undesirable side effects. Identification of antitumor agents that reduce the toxicity will thus have significant therapeutic value. In this study, we investigated all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) as an antitumor agent. Although high concentrations (1-10 microM) of retinoic acid derivatives are generally needed for significant antitumor effects in many cancer cells, we observed that pharmacologically relevant concentrations of ATRA were effective in inducing cell death in human MB cells. Using 10-fold lower concentrations (100-500 nM), we found that ATRA inhibits MB (DAOY, D283, D425, and D458) cell proliferation as determined by cell viability [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assays. Furthermore, 100 nM ATRA was potent in inhibiting the anchorage-independent growth of the sensitive cell lines (D283, D425, and D458) in soft agar assays. We also demonstrate that the ATRA-induced decrease in cell viability was due to increased cell death by apoptosis, which was accompanied by a 20-fold induction of caspase-3 activity in the most sensitive cell line, D458. By contrast, induction of caspase-3 was only 2-fold in the relatively insensitive DAOY cells. Furthermore, ATRA-induced cell death in D283, D425, and D458 cells was accompanied by activation of caspase-3, a key executioner of apoptosis. We also demonstrate that activated caspase-3 resulted in cleavage of 116-kDa poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 to its signature fragments (85 and 29 kDa). Pretreatment with a specific caspase-3 inhibitor, DEVD-CHO, significantly reduced ATRA-induced apoptotic cell death. Thus, we demonstrate for the first time that low concentrations of ATRA inhibit MB cell proliferation and induce apoptotic cell death in part by activating caspase-3/poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 effector pathway, and we show that retinoic acids and novel retinoids are potential antitumor agents in MB therapy.

Topics: Apoptosis; Caspase 3; Caspases; Cell Death; Cell Division; Cell Line, Tumor; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Enzyme Activation; Humans; Kinetics; Medulloblastoma; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases; Tretinoin

Retinoic acid (RA) can promote human medulloblastoma cells Med-3 toward differentiation but is not sufficient to induce cell death, suggesting its limited effect on medulloblastomas. On the other hand, the differentiated tumour cells have been supposed to be more sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs. To elucidate this possibility for medulloblastoma cells, 10 microM/l RA, 1.0 microg/ml cisplatin (CP) and their half-dosage combinations were utilized in this study to treat Med-3 cells and their influences in cell proliferation, morphology and death patterns were evaluated. In parallel, the expressions of Fas and its ligand (FasL) were analyzed by immunocytochemical staining and Western blot hybridization. Anti-Fas antibody was used to incubate the Med-3 cells pretreated by 10 microM/l RA or 1.0 microg/ml CP. It was revealed that RA and CP could inhibit cell growth but rarely induce apoptosis. Combination of half doses each of RA and CP effectively caused most of tumour cells to die of apoptosis within 6 days. FasL molecules in 29 kDa and 37 kDa were detected in Med-3 cells with and without the treatments. The Fas molecule around 30 kDa and located in the cytoplasm was found in the normally cultured cells and the cells treated by CP. An additional 45 kDa Fas band with the appearance of its cell surface labeling was detected in the cells treated by 10 microM/l RA and by 5 microM/l RA + 0.5 microg/ml CP. The anti-Fas antibody could efficiently induce apoptosis only in the cell populations pretreated by RA. Our data thus suggest that RA can enhance the chemosensitivity of human medulloblastoma Med-3 cells presumably via modulating the Fas expression pattern. The RA/CP combined regimen would be a potential therapeutic approach for medulloblastomas.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Blotting, Western; Cell Division; Cisplatin; Fas Ligand Protein; fas Receptor; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Medulloblastoma; Membrane Glycoproteins; Molecular Weight; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured

To elucidate the chemosensitivity of retinoic acid (RA)-differentiated medulloblastoma Med-3 cells to conventional anti-cancer drug and to determine the potential genetic factor(s) mediating this sensitivity.. Ten mumol/L RA, 5 micrograms/ml cisplatin (DDP) and their combination with one half concentration of each were used respectively to treat human medulloblastoma cell line Med-3 in vitro. Cell proliferation, morphology and death pattern as well as Fas/FasL expressions were analyzed by multiple approaches.. Both soluble and membrane FasL could be detected in the treated and untreated Med-3. Fas was positive in the cytoplasm of Med-3 cells and the cells could produce soluble Fas. DDP had no obvious effect on Fas expression. RA up-regulated Fas expression and translocalization from cytoplasm to cell membrane of the treated cells. Neither RA nor DDP could trigger apoptosis but in combination could effectively induce apoptosis.. RA could enhance the apoptotic susceptibility of Med-3 cells to DDP presumably through modulating the Fas expression pattern. Combined RA/DDP regimen would have potential clinical value in the management of medulloblastomas.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Apoptosis; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Cisplatin; Drug Synergism; Fas Ligand Protein; fas Receptor; Humans; Medulloblastoma; Membrane Glycoproteins; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured

It is a well established fact that the calcium-binding protein, calbindin-D28k, is influenced by vitamin D in intestine and kidney. However, very little is known concerning the regulation of calbindin-D28k in brain. Although few genes that are regulated by retinoic acid (RA) have been identified in the nervous system, we now report that the human medulloblastoma cell line D283 (which is derived from cerebellum and has a distinctly neuronal phenotype) contains calbindin-D28k endogenously and that calbindin protein and mRNA can be induced 10- to 15-fold in these cells by 10(-7) M RA. These findings are the first evidence of RA-mediated regulation of calbindin. The time course of response, as determined by Northern blot analysis, indicated that the first significant increase in calbindin-D28k mRNA is at 12 h with a plateau of calbindin mRNA induction at 72 h after RA treatment. The induction of calbindin mRNA by RA was preceded by an induction of retinoic acid receptor-alpha mRNA and was accompanied by an induction of retinoid X receptor-alpha mRNA. Calbindin-D28k mRNA levels in D283 medulloblastoma cells as well as the induction of calbindin mRNA by RA were not significantly affected by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 treatment. Deletion mutant analysis of the native calbindin-D28k promoter and cotransfection of CV-1 or D283 medulloblastoma cells in the presence of retinoic acid receptor-alpha and/or retinoid X receptor-alpha expression vectors as well as results of nuclear transcription assays did not indicate transcriptional regulation of calbindin-D28k by RA. Studies of calbindin-D28k mRNA in control and RA-pretreated D283 medulloblastoma cells at various times (3-24 h) after treatment with 4 micrograms/ml actinomycin D indicated that the half-life of calbindin-D28k mRNA was significantly increased in the presence of RA, suggesting regulation of calbindin-D28k mRNA stability by RA. Thus, calbindin-D28k is one of the few known targets of RA action in cells that express a neuronal phenotype. In addition, our findings present further evidence of an interrelationship between the actions of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and the active metabolites of vitamin A.

Topics: Animals; Calbindin 1; Calbindins; Chlorocebus aethiops; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Medulloblastoma; Mice; Neuroblastoma; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Rats; Receptors, Retinoic Acid; Retinoic Acid Receptor alpha; Retinoid X Receptors; RNA, Messenger; S100 Calcium Binding Protein G; Transcription Factors; Transcription, Genetic; Transfection; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Nerve growth factor (NGF) has the potential to induce cellular differentiation in various neoplastic and nonneoplastic cell lines. In this study, our aim was to determine NGF receptor (NGFr) status in medulloblastoma specimens and cell lines and to investigate whether NGF could act as a potential differentiating agent for this common pediatric brain tumor. Paraffin-embedded tumor tissue from 10 patients with the diagnosis of medulloblastoma was retrospectively analyzed to determine the frequency of NGFr expression. Of the 10 tumor specimens evaluated, 4 were positive for NGFr; however, NGFr staining was confined to only 5 to 8% of the cells in a randomly scattered pattern. No colocalization was present with neuronal, glial, or vascular structures. In addition, two medulloblastoma cell lines established in our laboratory were also evaluated for NGFr. In this study, we also examined the effects of retinoic acid, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate, and NGF on medulloblastoma cell lines to evaluate their effect on morphological differentiation and NGFr expression. Although these agents failed to cause NGFr expression in our cell lines, morphological alteration was noticed in only one of the cell lines with retinoic acid. Therefore, because of the lack of de novo or induced NGFr expression, it is unlikely that NGF will be useful as a potential therapeutic differentiating agent for medulloblastomas.

Topics: Adolescent; Cell Differentiation; Cell Division; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Infant; Male; Medulloblastoma; Nerve Growth Factors; Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Medulloblastomas are cerebellar tumors which are primarily composed of sheets of uniform, small malignant cells and may have astrocytic, neuronal or no features typical of these cell types. The assessment of astrocytic differentiation in medulloblastoma rests largely on the detection in malignant cells of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker present in the later stages of normal astrocyte differentiation. It is still not known whether cells that do not contain GFAP in medulloblastomas with astrocytic differentiation correspond to highly proliferative astrocyte progenitors in maturation arrest at earlier stages of differentiation. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether cells in short term culture derived from a medulloblastoma tumor specimen with astrocytic differentiation were of the astrocytic lineage and if so, whether they represented proliferative astrocyte progenitors which would morphologically and antigenically mature in response to differentiating agents. A portion of tumor specimen from a 10-month-old child with recurrent posterior fossa medulloblastoma (RB2) that contained GFAP focally in tumor cells was grown in monolayer culture. We examined cellular structure and appearance of western immunoblotting and immunohistochemical studies for GFAP and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in RB2 cells before and after treatment with retinoic acid (RA) and dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dBcAMP). RB2 in culture consisted of small polygonal cells (93%), large flat cells (3%), and polygonal cells with cytoplasmic processes (4%). In untreated RB2, 30% of cells expressed GFAP and staining for NSE was negative. RA treatment produced flattened cells and decreased GFAP. DBcAMP reversibly induced fine cytoplasmic processes containing GFAP in 85% of cells within 96 h. Neither agent induced NSE. The results suggest that cultured cells which are derived from a medulloblastoma with astrocytic differentiation do not spontaneously differentiate but that treatment with dBcAMP suppresses proliferation, enhances cytoplasmic process formation and increases cytoplasmic GFAP. Cells in culture and in medulloblastoma tumor specimens which do not contain GFAP may represent astrocyte progenitors in maturation arrest.

Topics: Astrocytes; Bucladesine; Cell Division; Cerebellar Neoplasms; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; Humans; Infant; Male; Medulloblastoma; Tretinoin; Tumor Cells, Cultured