In contrast to agonist monoclonal antibodies, both C-terminal truncated form and full length form of Pleiotrophin failed to activate vertebrate ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase)?
Indeed, vasculature was significantly enhanced in resistant NB xenografts compared to sensitive and reverted xenografts, and we suggest that PTN is acting in our resistant in vivo NB model as an angiostatic factor.
We previously reported that MK mRNA expression is elevated in neuroblastoma specimens at all stages, whereas pleiotrophin, the other member of the MK family, is expressed at high levels in favourable neuroblastomas.