J Korean Med Sci.  2019 Oct;34(39):e254. 10.3346/jkms.2019.34.e254.

Differential Clinical Significance of Neurotrophin-3 Expression according to MYCN Amplification and TrkC Expression in Neuroblastoma

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. kwsped@skku.edu
  • 2Department of Pathology and Translational Genomics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 3Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences & Technology, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), a member of the NT family, has only been considered an ancillary compound that provides anti-apoptotic benefits by inactivating tropomyosin receptor kinase C (TrkC)-induced apoptotic signals. However, little is known about the clinical relevance of NT-3 expression itself in neuroblastoma. The purpose of this study was to assess NT-3 expression in patients with neuroblastoma and its relevance to clinicopathologic findings and treatment outcomes.
METHODS
In this study, expression of NT-3 and TrkC was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in 240 patients with newly diagnosed neuroblastoma.
RESULTS
The results of the study revealed that NT-3 expression was associated with older age at diagnosis, localized tumors, and more differentiated tumors but was not associated with early treatment response (degree of residual tumor volume after three cycles of chemotherapy) and progression-free survival (PFS). However, when analysis was confined to patients with MYCN amplified tumors, NT-3 expression was associated with better early treatment response with borderline significance (P = 0.092) and higher PFS (86.9% vs. 58.2%; P = 0.044). In multivariate analysis in patients with MYCN amplified tumors, NT-3 was independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio, 0.246; 95% confidence interval, 0.061-0.997; P = 0.050). In another subgroup analysis, the early treatment response was better if NT-3 was expressed in patients without TrkC expression (P = 0.053) while it was poorer in patients with TrkC expression (P = 0.023).
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that NT-3 expression in neuroblastoma has its own clinical significance independent of TrkC expression, and its prognostic significance differs depending on the status of MYCN amplification and/or TrkC expression.

Keyword

Neuroblastoma; Neurotrophin-3; MYCN; TrkC

MeSH Terms

Diagnosis
Disease-Free Survival
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Multivariate Analysis
Neoplasm, Residual
Neuroblastoma*
Phosphotransferases
Tropomyosin
Phosphotransferases
Tropomyosin
Full Text Links
  • JKMS
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr