Author/Authors :
Iolascon، نويسنده , , Achille and Borriello، نويسنده , , Adriana and Giordani، نويسنده , , Lucia and Cucciolla، نويسنده , , Valeria and Moretti، نويسنده , , Arcangela and Monno، نويسنده , , Fausta and Criniti، نويسنده , , Vittoria and Marzullo، نويسنده , , Andrea and Criscuolo، نويسنده , , Maria and Ragione، نويسنده , , Fulvio Della، نويسنده ,
Abstract :
An altered apoptotic response represents a pivotal feature of cancer and is involved in cancerogenesis and resistance to chemotherapy. So far, however, only a few studies have been devoted to survey caspase content in malignant cell lines and primary tumor specimens. In this report, we investigated the expression of two pivotal caspases, 3 and 8, in 63 neuroblastoma specimens by three complementary techniques (i.e., reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry). We confirmed the frequent absence of caspase 8 expression. Moreover and most important, we demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, that a significant percentage of neuroblastomas lack caspase 3 mRNA and protein. Both caspase alterations do not show any correlation with tumor stage and MYCN status. Immunohistochemistry showed a large number of caspase-negative cell islets also present in positive samples. Our findings suggest that the absence of caspases might play an important role in neuroblastoma development and resistance to apoptosis-based treatments.
