Expression analysis of superior cervical ganglion from backcrossed TH-MYCN transgenic mice

Neuroblastoma susceptibility in TH-MYN mice is heavily influence by mouse strain background. We have combined linkage analysis of tumor susceptibility with expression QTL analysis of superior cervical ganglia (pure peripheral symptathetic nervous tissue) to identify genes underlying tumor formation The development of targeted therapeutics for neuroblastoma, the third most common tumor in children, has been limited by a poor understanding of growth signaling mechanisms unique to the peripheral nerve precursors from which tumors arise. In this study, we combined genetics with gene expression analysis in the peripheral sympathetic nervous system to implicate arginase 1 and GABA signaling in tumor formation in vivo. In human neuroblastoma cells, activation of GABA-A receptors by a benzodiazepine induced apoptosis and inhibited mitogenic signaling through AKT and MAPK. These results suggest that GABA influences both neural development and neuroblastoma, and that benzodiazepines in clinical use may have potential for neuroblastoma therapy. 224 backcrossed mice were genotyped at 349 markers to identify susceptibility loci for neuroblastoma. Gene expression from Superior Cervical Ganglia from 116 of these mice were correlated with genotyping data to identify putative eQTL.