Neuroblastoma Biology Essay - 976 Words

A major player in neuroblastoma biology is MYC, it is normally contained within our cells and is a large protein that functions as a transcription factor. MYC is known to be a proto-oncogene which normally activates gene expression, it can also repress it depending on what gene it sits on. Myc belongs to a family of related human genes which are known through (Hart et al 2010) to have evolved from primordial myc-like genes found in Drosophila and Hydra, these include; c-MYC, MYC-N and MYC-L. The expression of c-Myc is seen in all tissues whereas MYCN is expressed in the nervous system and MYC-L is found initially in the lungs. Myc proteins are basic helix-loop-helix (HLH) leucine zipper transcription factors by which MYCN and c-Myc share†¦show more content†¦Inhibition of this pathway was seen to decrease the neuroblastoma tumour mass as well as the oncogene MYCN protein expression, and in neuroblastoma cells lines the use of AKT specific inhibitors induced apoptotic cell death. Another pathway relevant to MYCN is the glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) pathway which is known to be involved in a large number of signalling pathways [e.g., Wnt, PI3K/Akt, mitogen–activated protein kinase (MAPK), and p53], many of which are associated with the neural crest. W nt signalling is known to be crucial in the induction, delamination and differentiation of the neural crest and GSK3 is seen to be a negative mediator of this pathway. Mammalian GSK3 is generated from two genes GSK3ÃŽ ± and GSK3ÃŽ ², GSK3ÃŽ ² phosphorylates and stabilizes the MYCN protein, this in turn can enable the dephosphorylation of a different site that can lead to MYCN degradation. The cell cycle and cell differentiation are processes where they appear to be regulated by sensitive molecular mechanisms such as cyclins. Cell division mechanisms involve protein kinases and their activators which are necessary for the cell cycle to proceed. The protein kinases are modulated by signals that involve changes in the expression patterns of these kinases, post-translational modifications and