Herein, we sought to characterize miRNA profile in GRP-R silenced neuroblastoma cells, and to determine the role of miRNAs on tumorigenicity and metastatic potential.
Human neuroblastoma cell lines (SK-N-SH and SH-SY5Y) were stably transfected with the plasmid pEGFP-GRP-R to establish GRP-R overexpression cell lines, and the effects of GRP on PTEN gene and protein expression were determined.
These findings provide evidence that a GRPR antagonist can stimulate the growth of cancer cells, and suggest that GRPR might interact with epigenetic mechanisms in regulating neuroblastoma cell growth.
Conversely, overexpression of GRP-R in less aggressive SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cells resulted in soft agar colony formation, which was inhibited by a GRP-blocking antibody.