Research Of Gene Expression In Side Population (SP) Cells Of Neuroblastoma

Objective:The studies on cancer-stem-cells (CSCs) have attracted so much attention in recent years as possible therapeutic implications. This study was carried out to investigate the gene expression profile of CSCs in human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells.Methods:We isolated CSCs from SK-N-SH cell line of which side population (SP) phenotype revealed several stem cell properties. After staining the cell line with Hoechst 33342 dye, the SP and nonside population (non-SP) cells were sorted using flow cytometric analysis. The mRNA expression profiles were measured using an Affymetrix GeneChip oligonucleotide array.Results:Among the 53544 differentially expressed genes,3453 were significantly up-regulated in SP compared to non-SP cells. Using Signal interaction network analysis,we found MAPK signaling pathway played a key role in differentially expressed genes.Conclusions:This is the first report indicating the differences of gene expression pattern between SP and non-SP cells in SK-N-SH cells. We suggest that the up-regulations of the genes of MAPK signaling pathway in SP of human neuroblastoma cells could be a target of poor prognosis in anti-cancer therapy.