Biology (May 2024)

Distinct Expression Profiles of Neuroblastoma-Associated mRNAs in Peripheral Blood and Bone Marrow of Non-High-Risk and High-Risk Neuroblastoma Patients

  • Naoko Nakatani,
  • Kaung Htet Nay Win,
  • Cho Yee Mon,
  • Tomoko Fujikawa,
  • Suguru Uemura,
  • Atsuro Saito,
  • Toshiaki Ishida,
  • Takeshi Mori,
  • Daiichiro Hasegawa,
  • Yoshiyuki Kosaka,
  • Shotaro Inoue,
  • Akihiro Nishimura,
  • Nanako Nino,
  • Akihiro Tamura,
  • Nobuyuki Yamamoto,
  • Kandai Nozu,
  • Noriyuki Nishimura

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13050345
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 5
p. 345

Abstract

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Non-high-risk (non-HR) neuroblastoma (NB) patients have excellent outcomes, with more than a 90% survival rate, whereas HR NB patients expect less than a 50% survival rate. Metastatic disease is the principal cause of death among both non-HR and HR NB patients. Previous studies have reported the significant but limited prognostic value of quantitative PCR (qPCR)-based assays, measuring overlapping but different sets of neuroblastoma-associated mRNAs (NB-mRNAs), to detect metastatic disease in both non-HR and HR patient samples. A droplet digital PCR (ddPCR)-based assay measuring seven NB-mRNAs (CRMP1, DBH, DDC, GAP43, ISL1, PHOX2B, and TH mRNAs) was recently developed and exhibited a better prognostic value for HR patient samples than qPCR-based assays. However, it remained to be tested on non-HR patient samples. In the present study, we employed the ddPCR-based assay to study peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) samples collected at diagnosis from eight non-HR and eleven HR cases and characterized the expression profiles of NB-mRNAs. The most highly expressed NB-mRNAs in PB and BM differed between non-HR and HR cases, with the CRMP1 mRNA being predominant in non-HR cases and the GAP43 mRNA in HR cases. The levels of NB-mRNAs in PB and BM were 5 to 1000 times lower in non-HR cases than in HR cases. The PB to BM ratio of NB-mRNAs was 10 to 100 times higher in non-HR cases compared to HR cases. The present case series suggests that non-HR and HR NB patients have the distinct expression profiles of NB-mRNAs in their PB and BM.

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