p16(CDKN2/INK4a) in Neuroblastoma:An Enigma of Expressive Proportions
Issue: Vol.6, No.1 - January 2007
Article Type: Manuscript
Neuroblastoma is one of most common solid tumors of young children and has a wide spectrum of clinical and biological features. Most patients with localized disease (stage 1 and 2) and stage 4s survive the disease while patients with advanced disease (stage 3 and 4) have a poor prognosis. A number of molecular alterations have been associated with a poor prognosis in neuroblastoma, including amplification of N-myc proto-oncogene and deletion of a portion of the short arm of chromosome 1. Though the exact mechanism by which these alterations influence outcome remains elusive, they are known to act through cell cycle deregulation. Cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors such as p16, p18 and p27 also regulate the cell cycle. Deletions, mutations, promoter hypermethylation or translational inactivation of these genes being very common in most cancers, with p16 appearing to be almost universally inactivated in many cancer types. However, neuroblastoma is a notable exception. In contrast to inactivation, the p16 gene is paradoxically highly expressed in many advanced neuroblastoma and associated with a poor outcome. In this review, I will offer an overview of the status of the CDKI p16 in neuroblastoma, and offer some insights into the role p16 and two other CDKIs, p18 and p27, may play in this disease.
Also In This Issue
- Editorial
- Profile: Dr. Silvia Regina Rogatto
- Analysis of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions for Anti-cancer Agents in Human Liver Microsomes by High Throughput Liquid Chromatography/ Mass Spectrometry Assay
- Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans and Dermatofibroma: Dermal Dendrocytomas: An Ultra-structural Study
- Uterine Leiomyoma: Updates in Cytogeneticsand Molecular Analysis
- Non-dysgerminomatous Ovarian Tumors: Clinical Characteristics, Treatment and Outcome
- Comparison of 5-Flourouracil and Leucovorin, Versus 5-Flourouracil, Leucovorin and Oxaliplatin in Metastatic Colorectal Malignancy
- Twin Studies in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Review