Additionally, Ras family members (Hras1, Kras2 and Nras) and the downstream effectors Pik3ca and Braf, were sequenced from twenty-five neuroblastomas arising in neuroblastoma-prone transgenic mice.
Favorable outcomes of patients with advanced NB were distinguished by high Ha-ras and high trk A expression, and unfavorable outcomes were distinguished by low Ha-ras and low trk A expression.
Here we describe a miRNA, miR-380-5p, that represses p53 expression via a conserved sequence in the p53 3' untranslated region (UTR). miR-380-5p is highly expressed in mouse embryonic stem cells and neuroblastomas, and high expression correlates with poor outcome in neuroblastomas with neuroblastoma derived v-myc myelocytomatosis viral-related oncogene (MYCN) amplification. miR-380 overexpression cooperates with activated HRAS oncoprotein to transform primary cells, block oncogene-induced senescence and form tumors in mice.
These findings from unmanipulated human neuroblastomas indicate that the Ha-ras gene product (p21) might play a role in the mechanism(s) controlling aggressiveness in this type of tumor in vivo and that the Ha-ras p21 detected by a simple and reproducible immunohistochemical procedure may be of clinical importance in predicting prognosis in patients with this malignancy.
To evaluate the correlation between telomerase activity and other biological characteristics reported as prognostic markers (MYCN gene amplification, loss of heterogeneity (LOH) in the short arm of chromosome 1, trk-A expression, Ha-ras p21 expression, and DNA ploidy), we investigated these biological features in 105 untreated neuroblastomas.