Functional analysis of HOXA10 and HOXB4 in human medulloblastoma cell lines

Abstract

Medulloblastoma (MB) is a malignant childhood brain tumor which at molecular level is classified into at least four major subtypes: WNT, SHH, group C and group D differing in response to treatment. Previous studies have associated changes in expression levels and activation of certain HOX genes with MB development. In the present study, we investigate the role of HOX genes in two attributes acquired by tumor cells: migration and proliferation potential, as well as, in vivo tumorigenic potential. We analyzed UW402, UW473, DAOY and ONS-76 human pediatric MB cell lines and cerebellum primary cultures. Two-color microarray-based gene expression analysis was used to identify differentially expressed HOX genes. Among the various HOX genes significantly overexpressed in DAOY and ONS-76 cell lines compared to UW402 and UW473 cell lines, HOXA10 and HOXB4 were selected for further analysis. The expression levels of these HOX genes were validated by real-time PCR. A mouse model was used to study the effect of the HOXA10 and HOXB4 genes on the in vivo tumorigenic potential and the in vitro proliferative and migration potential of MB cell lines. Our results show that the inhibition of HOXA10 in DAOY cell line led to increased in vitro cell migration while in vitro cell proliferation or in vivo tumorigenic potential were unaffected. We also observed that induced expression of HOXB4 in the UW473 cell line significantly reduced in vitro cell proliferation and migration capability of UW473 cells with no effect on the in vivo tumorigenicity. This suggests that HOXA10 plays a role in migration events and the HOXB4 gene is involved in proliferation and migration processes of medulloblastoma cells, however, it appears that these genes are not essential for the tumorigenic process of these cells.

HOXB4 promotes the malignant progression of ovarian cancer via DHDDS

“…Previous studies indicated that HOXB4 plays a crucial role in cancer progression [24,32,[42][43][44][45]. EMT is important during tumor metastasis in which epithelial cells lose adhesion and acquire invasive ability [46][47][48][49].…”

“…The HOXB family involvement in tumor EMT has yet to be fully investigated, and EMT-associated HOXBs in OV have rarely been reported [18][19][20][21][22]. Homeobox B4 (HOXB4) is an important transcription factor involved in the progression of lung, breast, prostate, and bladder cancer [23][24][25][26][27]. HOXB4 enhances proliferation and the stat3 pathway [28][29][30][31][32].…”

HOXB4 promotes the malignant progression of ovarian cancer via DHDDS

“…Previous studies indicated that HOXB4 plays an crucial role in cancer progression [24,32,[41][42][43][44]. EMT is important during tumor metastasis that epithelial cells to lose adhesion and acquire invasive ablibity [45][46][47][48].…”

“…The HOXB family involved in tumor EMT has yet to be fully investigated, and EMT HOXBs with OV have been rarely reported [18][19][20][21][22]. Homeobox B4 (HOXB4), an important transcription factor and involved in the progression of lung, breast, prostate, and bladder cancer [23][24][25][26][27]. HOXB4 enhances proliferation and stat3 pathway [28][29][30][31][32].…”

HOXB4 promotes the malignant progression of ovarian cancer via DHDDS

“…progression of lung, breast, prostate, and bladder cancer [23][24][25][26][27]. HOXB4 enhances proliferation and the stat3 pathway [28][29][30][31][32].…”