Abstract #3208: Ornithine decarboxylase and antizyme 2 are prognostic markers for aggressive neuroblastoma independent of MYCN amplification status

High polyamine (PA) levels and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) over-expression are well-known phenomena in many aggressive cancer types. We analyzed the expression of ODC and ODC-activity regulating genes antizymes 1-3 (AZ1-3) and AZ inhibitors 1-2 (AZ-IN1-2) in human neuroblastoma (NB) tumors to determine their potential correlations with genetic and clinical features of NB. Since ODC is a known target gene of MYCN, the correlation between ODC and MYCN was of special interest. Data were obtained from Affymetrix micro-array analysis of a set of NB tumors (88 samples). ODC mRNA was highly expressed in all 88 NB tumors, and ODC mRNA expression levels were significantly predictive of decreased overall survival probability along with unfavorable patient age at diagnosis, MYCN gene amplification, 1p loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH), and unfavorable INSS tumor stage and tumor histology (all P MYCN amplification, suggesting an additional role for ODC independent of MYCN. Conversely, AZ2 mRNA expression levels correlated with increased overall survival probability along with favorable INSS tumor stage, MYCN amplification, and 1p LOH (all P Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 3208.