Neuroblastoma tumor heterogeneity and cell plasticity (from patients)

Two cell identities, noradrenergic and mesenchymal, have been characterized in neuroblastoma cell lines according to their epigenetic landscapes relying on specific core regulatory circuitries of transcription factors. Yet, their relationship and relative contribution in patient tumors remain to be defined. Here, we demonstrate that GATA3 but not PHOX2A or PHOX2B knock-out in noradrenergic cells induces a mesenchymal phenotype. We further document a spontaneous plasticity between the noradrenergic and mesenchymal identities in a subset of cell lines and identify transcription factors expressed in transition cells between the two states. Strikingly, mesenchymal neuroblastoma cells revert to a noradrenergic phenotype in vivo. Consistently, tumor cells with a mesenchymal identity are not detected in single-cell transcriptomic analyses of neuroblastoma tumors and PDX models. Our data also highlight neuroblastoma intra-tumor heterogeneity with the co-existence of distinct tumor populations, including sympathoblast-like and chromaffin-like cells suggesting that neuroblastoma cells arise from a common sympatho-adrenal progenitor.EGA study EGAS00001005322