Biological significance of Oct-4 expression in neuroblastoma

Objective To investigate the expression of Oct-4 in neuroblastoma.Methods The Oct-4 expression in 39 neuroblastoma tissues and paracancerous tissues was determined by real-time PCR and Western blot.The relationship between the expression of Oct-4 and clinical data was also analyzed.Results The expression level of Oct-4 in preoperative neuroblastoma tissues was significantly higher than that in paracancerous tissues(P＜0.05),and its expression in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ neuroblastoma was higher than that in stage Ⅰ Ⅱ.In tumors of stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ,the Oct-4 expression was significantly decreased in the subgroup with preoperative chemotherapy when compared with that without preoperative chemotherapy.Conclusions The expression of Oct-4 correlates positively with the progression of neuroblastoma.The Oct-4 expression can be inhibited by chemotherapy. Key words: Neuroblastoma;  Octamer transcription factor-4