Hernandez M C, Andres-Barquin P J, Holt I, Israel M A
Department of Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine, Brain Tumor Research Center, HSE 722, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, California, 94143-0520, USA.
Exp Cell Res. 1998 Aug 1;242(2):470-7. doi: 10.1006/excr.1998.4109.
We recently identified and characterized a novel murine gene, ENC-1, that is expressed primarily in the nervous system and encodes an actin-binding protein. To gain insight into a potential role for ENC-1 gene in the processes of cell differentiation and malignant transformation in the human nervous system, we first cloned and characterized the human homologue of ENC-1. The human ENC-1 gene appeared to be highly expressed in adult brain and spinal cord, and in a number of cell lines derived from nervous system tumors we detected low steady-state levels of ENC-1 mRNA. We used a neuroblastoma differentiation model, the retinoic acid-induced neuronal differentiation of SMS-KCNR cells, to study the regulation of the ENC-1 gene during neural crest cell differentiation. We found that the expression of ENC-1 increased dramatically in the differentiated SMS-KCNR cells as compared to control undifferentiated cells. These results suggest that ENC-1 expression plays a role during differentiation of neural crest cells and may be down regulated in neuroblastoma tumors.
