Overexpression of Endogenous Retroviruses and Malignancy Markers in Neuroblastoma Cell Lines by Medium-Induced Microenvironmental Changes

Identification of robust biomarkers seems essential for understand neuroblastoma (NB) tumor progression and developing effective therapy. Here, we have studied the expression of known malignancy markers and especially Endogenous retroviruses (ERV) as potential targets in NB cell lines during stem-cell medium-induced microenvironmental change. The known malignancy markers in NB, e.g. proto-oncogenic MYC or MYCN were expressed highly heterogeneously in the three investigated NB cell lines. Using a virus metagenome designed by our group revealed the transcriptional activation of three endogenous retrovirus elements: ERV3-1, ERVE-1 and ERVFc-2 env. Interestingly, the overexpression of ERV was associated with a significant elevation of immune checkpoint molecule CD200 suggesting tumor escape mechanism in NB cell lines upon serum-free stem cell media incubation. Wieland, Lisa et al. Overexpression of Endogenous Retroviruses and Malignancy Markers in Neuroblastoma Cell Lines by Medium-Induced Microenvironmental Changes. Frontiers in oncology vol. 11 637522. 7 May. 2021, doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.637522