We conditionally activated N-myc in SH-EP neuroblastoma cells subjected to the trophic stress of serum or nutrient deprivation while changing the expression of Bcl-2, survivin and FLIP(L), antiapoptotic molecules often overexpressed in poor prognosis neuroblastomas.
Furthermore, whole-genome transcriptome analysis revealed that BRG1 controls the expression of key elements of oncogenic pathways such as PI3K/AKT and BCL2, which offers a promising new combination therapy for high-risk NB.
By serendipity we cloned a variant of the anti-apoptotic Bcl2-family member Myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl1) from human neuroblastoma and leukemia cells.
MAO-B inhibitors selegiline and rasagiline protect neurons via increase expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and pro-survival neurotrophic factors in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and glioblastoma U118MG cell lines.
Collectively, these results suggest that IGF-IR or Bcl-2 overexpression in neuroblastoma cells promotes cell survival by preventing mitochondrial membrane depolarization and caspase-3 activation, ultimately leading to increased tumor growth.
The in situ expression of Bcl-2, Rb, p21, p53 and Bax proteins, as well as the proliferation marker proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were examined immunocytochemically in a selection of 38 stage- and outcome-identified NB tumours.
In addition to NBs, lower levels of BCL2 protein were also found in a variety of other neural crest-derived tumors and tumor cell lines, including some neuroepitheliomas, Ewing's sarcomas, neurofibromas, and melanomas.
Our data indicate that NB differentiation induces drug resistance after a loss of the apoptotic response to antineoplastic drugs and suggest that bcl-2 overexpression is an important mechanism of resistance in differentiated tumor cells.
LSD1 protein expression levels were assessed semi-quantitatively in specimens of NB and ganglioneuroblastoma (GNB), along with the apoptosis markers, Bcl-2 and Bax.
However, combined treatment with bcl-2 and FLIP antisense oligonucleotides had a statistically significant synergistic effect reversing Fas-resistance in neuroblastoma cells in vitro.
Ectopic expression of LGP2 in NB cells significantly enhanced poly (I:C)-induced NB cell death associated with downregulation of MDA5, RIG-I, MAVS and Bcl-2, as well as upregulation of Noxa and tBid.
In <i>MYCN</i>-amplified neuroblastoma, PUMA induction by GSK-J4 sensitized tumors to the B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) inhibitor venetoclax, demonstrating that epigenetic-targeted therapies and BCL-2 homology domain 3 mimetics can be rationally combined to treat this high-risk subset of neuroblastoma.
Mechanistically treatment of NBs with small molecule inhibitors of EGFR (erlotinib, cetuximab) and ERK (U0126) increases Noxa expression and dephosphorylates Bim to promote Bim binding to Bcl(-)2.
Thus, combining 13-cis-RA with cytotoxic chemotherapy significantly reduced the cytotoxicity for neuroblastoma in vitro, mediated at least in part via the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family of proteins.