The results show that the expression of NEFL induces cancer cell apoptosis and inhibits invasion in these cell lines, suggesting that NEFL may play a role in cancer cell apoptosis and invasion.
NEFL, one of the in silico hypermethylated genes in cancer, showed hypermethylation and lower expression in the cancer cell line MDA-MB-231, as well as in cancer tissues (methylation, p<0.05; expression, p<0.01).
Moreover, in several studies, NEFL was regarded as a tumor suppressor gene, and its loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was related to carcinogenesis and metastasis in several types of cancer.
Deletion mapping of tumours with chromosome 8 LOH suggests the presence of a suppressor gene(s) for urothelial cancer within a region defined by the loci NEFL and PLAT (8p21-q11.2).