RT Journal Article
T1 Identification of VRK1 as a New Neuroblastoma Tumor Progression Marker Regulating Cell Proliferation.
A1 Colmenero-Repiso, Ana
A1 Gómez-Muñoz, María A
A1 Rodríguez-Prieto, Ismael
A1 Amador-Álvarez, Aida
A1 Henrich, Kai-Oliver
A1 Pascual-Vaca, Diego
A1 Okonechnikov, Konstantin
A1 Rivas, Eloy
A1 Westermann, Frank
A1 Pardal, Ricardo
A1 Vega, Francisco M
K1 MYCN
K1 VRK1
K1 high-risk
K1 neuroblastoma
K1 proliferation
K1 tumorigenesis
AB Neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most common pediatric cancers and presents a poor survival rate in affected children. Current pretreatment risk assessment relies on a few known molecular parameters, like the amplification of the oncogene MYCN. However, a better molecular knowledge about the aggressive progression of the disease is needed to provide new therapeutical targets and prognostic markers and to improve patients' outcomes. The human protein kinase VRK1 phosphorylates various signaling molecules and transcription factors to regulate cell cycle progression and other processes in physiological and pathological situations. Using neuroblastoma tumor expression data, tissue microarrays from fresh human samples and patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), we have determined that VRK1 kinase expression stratifies patients according to tumor aggressiveness and survival, allowing the identification of patients with worse outcome among intermediate risk. VRK1 associates with cell cycle signaling pathways in NB and its downregulation abrogates cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Through the analysis of ChIP-seq and methylation data from NB tumors, we show that VRK1 is a MYCN gene target, however VRK1 correlates with NB aggressiveness independently of MYCN gene amplification, synergizing with the oncogene to drive NB progression. Our study also suggests that VRK1 inhibition may constitute a novel cell-cycle-targeted strategy for anticancer therapy in neuroblastoma.
SN 2072-6694
YR 2020
FD 2020-11-20
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10668/27889
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10668/27889
LA en
DS RISalud
RD Apr 11, 2025