Correction: Metastasis Suppressor microRNA-335 Targets the Formin Family of Actin Nucleators.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078428.].

A G316A Polymorphism in the Ornithine Decarboxylase Gene Promoter Modulates MYCN-Driven Childhood Neuroblastoma.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC1), a critical regulatory enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, is a direct transcriptional target of MYCN, amplification of which is a powerful marker of aggressive neuroblastoma. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), G316A, within the first intron of ODC1, results in genotypes wildtype GG, and variants AG/AA. CRISPR-cas9 technology was used to investigate the effects of AG clones from wildtype MYCN-amplified SK-N-BE(2)-C cells and the effect of the SNP on MYCN binding, and promoter activity was investigated using EMSA and luciferase assays. AG clones exhibited decreased ODC1 expression, growth rates, and histone acetylation and increased sensitivity to ODC1 inhibition. MYCN was a stronger transcriptional regulator of the ODC1 promoter containing the G allele, and preferentially bound the G allele over the A. Two neuroblastoma cohorts were used to investigate the clinical impact of the SNP. In the study cohort, the minor AA genotype was associated with improved survival, while poor prognosis was associated with the GG genotype and AG/GG genotypes in MYCN-amplified and non-amplified patients, respectively. These effects were lost in the GWAS cohort. We have demonstrated that the ODC1 G316A polymorphism has functional significance in neuroblastoma and is subject to allele-specific regulation by the MYCN oncoprotein.

A Context-Dependent Role for MiR-124-3p on Cell Phenotype, Viability and Chemosensitivity in Neuroblastoma in vitro.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a neural crest-derived tumor, which develops before birth or in early childhood, with metastatic dissemination typically preceding diagnosis. Tumors are characterized by a highly heterogeneous combination of cellular phenotypes demonstrating varying degrees of differentiation along different lineage pathways, and possessing distinct super-enhancers and core regulatory circuits, thereby leading to highly varied malignant potential and divergent clinical outcomes. Cytoskeletal reorganization is fundamental to cellular transformations, including the processes of cellular differentiation and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), previously reported by our lab and others to coincide with chemotherapy resistance and enhanced metastatic ability of tumor cells. This study set out to investigate the ability of the neuronal miR-124-3p to reverse the cellular transformation associated with drug resistance development and assess the anti-oncogenic role of this miRNA in in vitro models of drug-resistant adrenergic (ADRN) and mesenchymal (MES) neuroblastoma cell lines. Low expression of miR-124-3p in a cohort of neuroblastomas was significantly associated with poor overall and progression-free patient survival. Over-expression of miR-124-3p in vitro inhibited cell viability through the promotion of cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis in addition to sensitizing drug-resistant cells to chemotherapeutics in a panel of morphologically distinct neuroblastoma cell lines. Finally, we describe miR-124-3p direct targeting and repression of key up-regulated cytoskeletal genes including MYH9, ACTN4 and PLEC and the reversal of the resistance-associated EMT and enhanced invasive capacity previously reported in our in vitro model (SK-N-ASCis24).

Functional high-throughput screening reveals miR-323a-5p and miR-342-5p as new tumor-suppressive microRNA for neuroblastoma.

Current therapies for most non-infectious diseases are directed at or affect functionality of the human translated genome, barely 2% of all genetic information. By contrast, the therapeutic potential of targeting the transcriptome, ~ 70% of the genome, remains largely unexplored. RNA therapeutics is an emerging field that widens the range of druggable targets and includes elements such as microRNA. Here, we sought to screen for microRNA with tumor-suppressive functions in neuroblastoma, an aggressive pediatric tumor of the sympathetic nervous system that requires the development of new therapies. We found miR-323a-5p and miR-342-5p to be capable of reducing cell proliferation in multiple neuroblastoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo, thereby providing a proof of concept for miRNA-based therapies for neuroblastoma. Furthermore, the combined inhibition of the direct identified targets such as CCND1, CHAF1A, INCENP and BCL-XL could reveal new vulnerabilities of high-risk neuroblastoma.

MicroRNA-302d targets IRF9 to regulate the IFN-induced gene expression in SLE.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex disease targeting multiple organs as a result of overactivation of the type I interferon (IFN) system, a feature currently being targeted by multiple biologic therapies against IFN-α. We have identified an estrogen-regulated microRNA, miR-302d, whose expression is decreased in SLE patient monocytes and identify its target as interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-9, a critical component of the transcriptional complex that regulates expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). In keeping with the reduced expression of miR-302d in SLE patient monocytes, IRF9 levels were increased, as was expression of a number of ISGs including MX1 and OAS1. In vivo evaluation revealed that miR-302d protects against pristane-induced inflammation in mice by targeting IRF9 and hence ISG expression. Importantly, patients with enhanced disease activity have markedly reduced expression of miR-302d and enhanced IRF9 and ISG expression, with miR-302d negatively correlating with IFN score. Together these findings identify miR-302d as a key regulator of type I IFN driven gene expression via its ability to target IRF9 and regulate ISG expression, underscoring the importance of non-coding RNA in regulating the IFN pathway in SLE.

Hemispherical platinum : silver core : shell nanoparticles for miRNA detection.

Defects within a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of dodecanethiol on gold have been used as nucleation sites for the electrodeposition of mushroom shaped platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs). The top surfaces of these PtNPs were then decorated with a layer of silver creating a hemispherical - platinum : silver core : shell nanoparticle (Pt-AgNP). Thiolated probe strand miRNA was then immobilised onto the upper silver surface. These regioselectively modified particles were desorbed by applying a current jump to yield nanoparticles capable of hybridising to a complementary miRNA target with electrocatalysis occurring on the non-functionalized lower surface. A second electrode was functionalized with single stranded capture miRNA that has a sequence that is complementary to an miRNA, miR-132, associated with the childhood cancer, Neuroblastoma but leaves a section of the target available to bind the nucleic acid sequence on the core : shell Pt-AgNPs. Following hybridization of the target and capture strands the surface was exposed to the miRNA labelled electrocatalytic Pt-AgNPs. The concentration of the target was then determined by monitoring the current associated with the reduction of hydrogen peroxide in a solution of H2SO4. Calibration plots of the log[miRNA] vs. faradaic current were linear from 1 aM to 1 µM and aM concentrations could be detected without the need for chemical amplification of the target, e.g., using PCR or NASBA. The regioselectively modified particles were also immobilised within the interior of gold microcavity arrays via miRNA hybridisation and their Raman properties investigated.

Assessment of Basic Biological Functions Exerted by miRNAs.

Assessment of cell viability and proliferation under different miRNA expression levels is an important step in the evaluation of basic miRNA functional effects within the cell. Here, we describe the overexpression of miRNA in question in cells achieved by transfection with subsequent examination of cell viability and proliferation over a period of time using the acid phosphatase assay.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated upregulation of miR-29a enhances sensitivity to neuronal apoptosis.

Disturbance of homeostasis within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen leads to the accumulation of unfolded and misfolded proteins. This results in the activation of an evolutionary conserved stress response termed ER stress that, if unresolved, induces apoptosis. Previously the Bcl-2 homology domain 3-Only Protein Puma was identified as a mediator of ER stress-induced apoptosis in neurons. In the search of alternative contributors to ER stress-induced apoptosis, a downregulation of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein Mcl-1 was noted during ER stress in both mouse cortical neurons and human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Downregulation of Mcl-1 was associated with an upregulation of microRNA-29a (miR-29a) expression, and subsequent experiments showed that miR-29a targeted the 3'-untranslated region of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein, Mcl-1. Inhibition of miR-29a expression using sequence-specific antagomirs or the overexpression of Mcl-1 decreased cell death following tunicamycin treatment, while gene silencing of Mcl-1 increased cell death. miR-29a did not alter the signalling branches of the ER stress response, rather its expression was controlled by the ER stress-induced transcription factor activating-transcription-factor-4 (ATF4). The current data demonstrate that the ATF4-mediated upregulation of miR-29a enhances the sensitivity of neurons to ER stress-induced apoptosis.

MicroRNA-497 impairs the growth of chemoresistant neuroblastoma cells by targeting cell cycle, survival and vascular permeability genes.

Despite multimodal therapies, a high percentage of high-risk neuroblastoma (NB) become refractory to current treatments, most of which interfere with cell cycle and DNA synthesis or function, activating the DNA damage response (DDR). In cancer, this process is frequently altered by deregulated expression or function of several genes which contribute to multidrug resistance (MDR). MicroRNAs are outstanding candidates for therapy since a single microRNA can modulate the expression of multiple genes of the same or different pathways, thus hindering the development of resistance mechanisms by the tumor. We found several genes implicated in the MDR to be overexpressed in high-risk NB which could be targeted by microRNAs simultaneously. Our functional screening identified several of those microRNAs that reduced proliferation of chemoresistant NB cell lines, the best of which was miR-497. Low expression of miR-497 correlated with poor patient outcome. The overexpression of miR-497 reduced the proliferation of multiple chemoresistant NB cell lines and induced apoptosis in MYCN-amplified cell lines. Moreover, the conditional expression of miR-497 in NB xenografts reduced tumor growth and inhibited vascular permeabilization. MiR-497 targets multiple genes related to the DDR, cell cycle, survival and angiogenesis, which renders this molecule a promising candidate for NB therapy.

The development of cisplatin resistance in neuroblastoma is accompanied by epithelial to mesenchymal transition in vitro.

Neuroblastoma is a challenging childhood malignancy, with a very high percentage of patients relapsing following acquisition of drug resistance, thereby necessitating the identification of mechanisms of drug resistance as well as new biological targets contributing to the aggressive pathogenicity of the disease. In order to investigate the molecular pathways that are involved with drug resistance in neuroblastoma, we have developed and characterised cisplatin resistant sublines SK-N-ASCis24, KellyCis83 and CHP-212Cis100, integrating data of cell behaviour, cytotoxicity, genomic alterations and modulation of protein expression. All three cisplatin resistant cell lines demonstrated cross resistance to temozolomide, etoposide and irinotecan, all of which are drugs in re-initiation therapy. Array CGH analysis indicated that resistant lines have acquired additional genomic imbalances. Differentially expressed proteins were identified by mass spectrometry and classified by bioinformatics tools according to their molecular and cellular functions and their involvement into biological pathways. Significant changes in the expression of proteins involved with pathways such as actin cytoskeletal signalling (p = 9.28E-10), integrin linked kinase (ILK) signalling (p = 4.01E-8), epithelial adherens junctions signalling (p = 5.49E-8) and remodelling of epithelial adherens junctions (p = 5.87E-8) pointed towards a mesenchymal phenotype developed by cisplatin resistant SK-N-ASCis24. Western blotting and confocal microscopy of MYH9, ACTN4 and ROCK1 coupled with invasion assays provide evidence that elevated levels of MYH9 and ACTN4 and reduced levels of ROCK1 contribute to the increased ROCK1-independent migratory potential of SK-N-ASCis24. Therefore, our results suggest that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is a feature during the development of drug resistance in neuroblastoma.

Differential DNA methylation profiles of coding and non-coding genes define hippocampal sclerosis in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with large-scale, wide-ranging changes in gene expression in the hippocampus. Epigenetic changes to DNA are attractive mechanisms to explain the sustained hyperexcitability of chronic epilepsy. Here, through methylation analysis of all annotated C-phosphate-G islands and promoter regions in the human genome, we report a pilot study of the methylation profiles of temporal lobe epilepsy with or without hippocampal sclerosis. Furthermore, by comparative analysis of expression and promoter methylation, we identify methylation sensitive non-coding RNA in human temporal lobe epilepsy. A total of 146 protein-coding genes exhibited altered DNA methylation in temporal lobe epilepsy hippocampus (n = 9) when compared to control (n = 5), with 81.5% of the promoters of these genes displaying hypermethylation. Unique methylation profiles were evident in temporal lobe epilepsy with or without hippocampal sclerosis, in addition to a common methylation profile regardless of pathology grade. Gene ontology terms associated with development, neuron remodelling and neuron maturation were over-represented in the methylation profile of Watson Grade 1 samples (mild hippocampal sclerosis). In addition to genes associated with neuronal, neurotransmitter/synaptic transmission and cell death functions, differential hypermethylation of genes associated with transcriptional regulation was evident in temporal lobe epilepsy, but overall few genes previously associated with epilepsy were among the differentially methylated. Finally, a panel of 13, methylation-sensitive microRNA were identified in temporal lobe epilepsy including MIR27A, miR-193a-5p (MIR193A) and miR-876-3p (MIR876), and the differential methylation of long non-coding RNA documented for the first time. The present study therefore reports select, genome-wide DNA methylation changes in human temporal lobe epilepsy that may contribute to the molecular architecture of the epileptic brain.

Modulation of chemotherapeutic drug resistance in neuroblastoma SK-N-AS cells by the neural apoptosis inhibitory protein and miR-520f.

The acquisition of multidrug resistance is a major impediment to the successful treatment of neuroblastoma, a clinically heterogeneous cancer accounting for ∼15% of all pediatric cancer deaths. The MYCN transcription factor, whose gene is amplified in ∼30% of high-risk neuroblastoma cases, influences drug resistance by regulating a cadre of genes, including those involved with drug efflux, however, other high-risk subtypes of neuroblastoma lacking MYCN amplification, such as those with chromosome 11q deletions, also acquire multidrug resistance. To elucidate additional mechanisms involved with drug resistance in non-MYCN amplified tumour cells, an SK-N-AS subline (SK-N-AsCis24) that is significantly resistant to cisplatin and cross resistant to etoposide was developed through a pulse-selection process. High resolution aCGH analysis of SK-N-AsCis24 revealed a focal gain on chromosome 5 containing the coding sequence for the neural apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP). Significant overexpression of NAIP mRNA and protein was documented, while experimental modulation of NAIP levels in both SK-N-AsCis24 and in parental SK-N-AS cells confirmed that NAIP was responsible for the drug resistant phenotype by apoptosis inhibition. Furthermore, a decrease in the NAIP targeting microRNA, miR-520f, was also demonstrated to be partially responsible for increased NAIP levels in SK-N-AsCis24. Interestingly, miR-520f levels were determined to be significantly lower in postchemotherapy treatment tumours relative to matched prechemotherapy samples, consistent with a role for this miRNA in the acquisition of drug resistance in vivo, potentially through decreased NAIP targeting. Our findings provide biological novel insight into neuroblastoma drug-resistance and have implications for future therapeutic research.

CASP8 SNP D302H (rs1045485) is associated with worse survival in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma patients.

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer that exhibits a wide clinical spectrum ranging from spontaneous regression in low-risk patients to fatal disease in high-risk patients. The identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may help explain the heterogeneity of neuroblastoma and assist in identifying patients at higher risk for poor survival. SNPs in the TP53 pathway are of special importance, as several studies have reported associations between TP53 pathway SNPs and cancer. Of note, less than 2% of neuroblastoma tumors have a TP53 mutation at diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We selected 21 of the most frequently studied SNPs in the TP53 pathway and evaluated their association with outcome in 500 neuroblastoma patients using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We investigated the impact of 21 SNPs on overall survival, event-free survival, age at diagnosis, MYCN status, and stage of the disease in 500 neuroblastoma patients. A missense SNP in exon 10 of the CASP8 gene SNP D302H was associated with worse overall and event-free survival in patients with MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma tumors.

Robust selection of cancer survival signatures from high-throughput genomic data using two-fold subsampling.

Identifying relevant signatures for clinical patient outcome is a fundamental task in high-throughput studies. Signatures, composed of features such as mRNAs, miRNAs, SNPs or other molecular variables, are often non-overlapping, even though they have been identified from similar experiments considering samples with the same type of disease. The lack of a consensus is mostly due to the fact that sample sizes are far smaller than the numbers of candidate features to be considered, and therefore signature selection suffers from large variation. We propose a robust signature selection method that enhances the selection stability of penalized regression algorithms for predicting survival risk. Our method is based on an aggregation of multiple, possibly unstable, signatures obtained with the preconditioned lasso algorithm applied to random (internal) subsamples of a given cohort data, where the aggregated signature is shrunken by a simple thresholding strategy. The resulting method, RS-PL, is conceptually simple and easy to apply, relying on parameters automatically tuned by cross validation. Robust signature selection using RS-PL operates within an (external) subsampling framework to estimate the selection probabilities of features in multiple trials of RS-PL. These probabilities are used for identifying reliable features to be included in a signature. Our method was evaluated on microarray data sets from neuroblastoma, lung adenocarcinoma, and breast cancer patients, extracting robust and relevant signatures for predicting survival risk. Signatures obtained by our method achieved high prediction performance and robustness, consistently over the three data sets. Genes with high selection probability in our robust signatures have been reported as cancer-relevant. The ordering of predictor coefficients associated with signatures was well-preserved across multiple trials of RS-PL, demonstrating the capability of our method for identifying a transferable consensus signature. The software is available as an R package rsig at CRAN (http://cran.r-project.org).

Lack of association between MDM2 promoter SNP309 and clinical outcome in patients with neuroblastoma.

While a polymorphism located within the promoter region of the MDM2 proto-oncogene, SNP309 (T > G), has previously been associated with increased risk and aggressiveness of neuroblastoma and other tumor entities, a protective effect has also been reported in certain other cancers. In this study, we evaluated the association of MDM2 SNP309 with outcome in 496 patients with neuroblastoma and its effect on MDM2 expression. No significant difference in overall or event-free survival was observed among patients with neuroblastoma with or without MDM2 SNP309. The presence of SNP309 does not affect MDM2 expression in neuroblastoma.

Discovery and visualization of miRNA-mRNA functional modules within integrated data using bicluster analysis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression at a post-transcriptional level. An miRNA may target many messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts, and each transcript may be targeted by multiple miRNAs. Our understanding of miRNA regulation is evolving to consider modules of miRNAs that regulate groups of functionally related mRNAs. Here we expand the model of miRNA functional modules and use it to guide the integration of miRNA and mRNA expression and target prediction data. We present evidence of cooperativity between miRNA classes within this integrated miRNA-mRNA association matrix. We then apply bicluster analysis to uncover miRNA functional modules within this integrated data set and develop a novel application to visualize and query these results. We show that this wholly unsupervised approach can discover a network of miRNA-mRNA modules that are enriched for both biological processes and miRNA classes. We apply this method to investigate the interplay of miRNAs and mRNAs in integrated data sets derived from neuroblastoma and human immune cells. This study is the first to apply the technique of biclustering to model functional modules within an integrated miRNA-mRNA association matrix. Results provide evidence of an extensive modular miRNA functional network and enable characterization of miRNA function and dysregulation in disease.

Metastasis suppressor microRNA-335 targets the formin family of actin nucleators.

MiRNAs can have pleiotropic effects by targeting multiple genes belonging to diverse signalling networks. Alternatively, miRNAs can enhance the potency of their cellular effects by targeting multiple genes within the same genetic pathway. Previously, we and others have demonstrated that miR-335 is a potent suppressor of tumour cell migration, invasion and metastasis, in part by targeting several genes involved in these cellular processes, including ROCK1, MAPK1, LRG1, SP1 and SOX4. Here, we demonstrate that direct targeting of multiple members of the formin family of actin nucleators contributes to the inhibitory effects of miR-335 in neuroblastoma cells. We demonstrate that miR-335 regulates the expression of at least five formin family members and validate three family members, FMNL3, FMN2 and DAAM2, as direct targets of miR-335. The contribution of the formin family genes to cancer progression and metastasis has recently begun to emerge and here we demonstrate for the first time the ability of FMN2 and DAAM2 to regulate tumour cell migration and invasion, using siRNA-mediated inhibition of each of these formin genes. Finally, we demonstrate that the formin genes, in particular FMNL3, are responsible for the protrusion of actin-rich filopodia structures that contribute to the enhanced migratory and invasive potential associated with reduced expression of miR-335. Thus, direct targeting of the formin family contributes to the metastasis suppressing abilities of miR-335 by providing a direct regulatory link to the actin assembly machinery of the cell. We conclude that miR-335 is a master regulator of tumour cell migration and invasion by directly targeting a plethora of genes that effectively control cell migratory processes.

Investigating gene promoter methylation in a mouse model of status epilepticus.

Epigenetic modification of DNA by methylation of the cytosine present in CG dinucleotides constitutes a key regulatory mechanism in the control of gene expression in neurological diseases. In this chapter, we describe an in-depth methodology of methylated DNA immunoprecipitation used in combination with tiling microarrays (MeDIP-chip) in order to analyze genome-wide gene promoter methylation in the hippocampus of mice following status epilepticus (prolonged seizure). While a specific mouse model and array format are described, the method can be applied to DNA from many tissues to analyze the methylation status of promoter regions across whole genomes, using a wide range of available array formats (both custom designed and commercially catalogued). We conclude the chapter with the description of bisulfite sequencing validation of MeDIP-chip results.

ERBB3 is a marker of a ganglioneuroblastoma/ganglioneuroma-like expression profile in neuroblastic tumours.

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma (NB) tumours are commonly divided into three cytogenetic subgroups. However, by unsupervised principal components analysis of gene expression profiles we recently identified four distinct subgroups, r1-r4. In the current study we characterized these different subgroups in more detail, with a specific focus on the fourth divergent tumour subgroup (r4). METHODS: Expression microarray data from four international studies corresponding to 148 neuroblastic tumour cases were subject to division into four expression subgroups using a previously described 6-gene signature. Differentially expressed genes between groups were identified using Significance Analysis of Microarray (SAM). Next, gene expression network modelling was performed to map signalling pathways and cellular processes representing each subgroup. Findings were validated at the protein level by immunohistochemistry and immunoblot analyses. RESULTS: We identified several significantly up-regulated genes in the r4 subgroup of which the tyrosine kinase receptor ERBB3 was most prominent (fold change: 132-240). By gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) the constructed gene network of ERBB3 (n = 38 network partners) was significantly enriched in the r4 subgroup in all four independent data sets. ERBB3 was also positively correlated to the ErbB family members EGFR and ERBB2 in all data sets, and a concurrent overexpression was seen in the r4 subgroup. Further studies of histopathology categories using a fifth data set of 110 neuroblastic tumours, showed a striking similarity between the expression profile of r4 to ganglioneuroblastoma (GNB) and ganglioneuroma (GN) tumours. In contrast, the NB histopathological subtype was dominated by mitotic regulating genes, characterizing unfavourable NB subgroups in particular. The high ErbB3 expression in GN tumour types was verified at the protein level, and showed mainly expression in the mature ganglion cells. CONCLUSIONS: Conclusively, this study demonstrates the importance of performing unsupervised clustering and subtype discovery of data sets prior to analyses to avoid a mixture of tumour subtypes, which may otherwise give distorted results and lead to incorrect conclusions. The current study identifies ERBB3 as a clear-cut marker of a GNB/GN-like expression profile, and we suggest a 7-gene expression signature (including ERBB3) as a complement to histopathology analysis of neuroblastic tumours. Further studies of ErbB3 and other ErbB family members and their role in neuroblastic differentiation and pathogenesis are warranted.

Expressional alterations in functional ultra-conserved non-coding RNAs in response to all-trans retinoic acid--induced differentiation in neuroblastoma cells.

BACKGROUND: Ultra-conserved regions (UCRs) are segments of the genome (≥ 200 bp) that exhibit 100% DNA sequence conservation between human, mouse and rat. Transcribed UCRs (T-UCRs) have been shown to be differentially expressed in cancers versus normal tissue, indicating a possible role in carcinogenesis. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) causes some neuroblastoma (NB) cell lines to undergo differentiation and leads to a significant decrease in the oncogenic transcription factor MYCN. Here, we examine the impact of ATRA treatment on T-UCR expression and investigate the biological significance of these changes. METHODS: We designed a custom tiling microarray to profile the expression of 481 T-UCRs in sense and anti-sense orientation (962 potential transcripts) in untreated and ATRA-treated neuroblastoma cell lines (SH-SY5Y, SK-N-BE, LAN-5). Following identification of significantly differentially expressed T-UCRs, we carried out siRNA knockdown and gene expression microarray analysis to investigate putative functional roles for selected T-UCRs. RESULTS: Following ATRA-induced differentiation, 32 T-UCRs were differentially expressed (16 up-regulated, 16 down-regulated) across all three cell lines. Further insight into the possible role of T-UC.300A, an independent transcript whose expression is down-regulated following ATRA was achieved by siRNA knockdown, resulting in the decreased viability and invasiveness of ATRA-responsive cell lines. Gene expression microarray analysis following knockdown of T-UC.300A revealed a number of genes whose expression was altered by changing T-UC.300A levels and that might play a role in the increased proliferation and invasion of NB cells prior to ATRA-treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that significant numbers of T-UCRs have altered expression levels in response to ATRA. While the precise roles that T-UCRs might play in cancer or in normal development are largely unknown and an important area for future study, our findings strongly indicate that the function of non-coding RNA T-UC.300A is connected with proliferation, invasion and the inhibition of differentiation of neuroblastoma cell lines prior to ATRA treatment.