Transcriptonal and epigenetic profiling of neuroblastoma cells based on CD49b expression

This study was undertaken to assess heterogeneity within neuroblastoma cell populations, and to assess whether the integrin CD49b can distinguish different neuroblastoma phenotypes. Methods: We performed bulk RNA sequencing on Neuro-2a and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells sorted based on CD49b expression, and CUT&RUN for H3K4me1 and H3K27ac on Neuro-2a cells sorted based on CD49b expression. Results: We find that CD49b expression identifies transcriptionally distinct neuroblastoma cell populations. High CD49b expression marks cells expressing mesenchymal genes, while lack of CD49 denotes cells expression neuronal genes. CUT&RUN analysis shows that CD49b distinguishes cells with distinct enhancer and super enhancer profiles. Conclusion: RNA sequencing and CUT&RUN demonstrate that neuroblastoma cell lines include heterogeneous populations. Overall design: Use of bulk RNA sequencing and CUT&RUN technologies to analyze transcription and enhancer status of neuroblastoma cell lines.