Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Manuscript
  • Published:

Myeloma

Differential gene expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) in a panel of multiple myeloma cell lines

Abstract

A striking feature of myeloma plasma cells concerns their expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM). The regulation of this particular expression is, however, not known. In this study, the N-CAM (CD56) gene regulation was examined in a panel of multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines. In this panel, both N-CAM-positive and -negative cells were analysed, reflecting the in vivo situation where a minority of MM patients have CD56-negative plasma cells at diagnosis or where in cases of extramedullary involvement CD56 expression decreases. At least two N-CAM mRNAs were found in the cell lines expressing the 140 kDa isoform. With one exception, no N-CAM transcripts could be detected in the N-CAM-negative cell lines. No structural differences could be found in the genomic organization of the N-CAM gene, or in the regulatory promoter region when CD56-positive and -negative cell lines were compared. In transfection studies, however, transcriptional activity of the N-CAM promoter was observed in N-CAM- negative cells, leading us to conclude that the up-regulation of N-CAM in MM cannot be explained by a simple transcriptional gene activation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

De Greef, C., Van Riet, I., Bakkus, M. et al. Differential gene expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) in a panel of multiple myeloma cell lines. Leukemia 12, 86–93 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2400897

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2400897

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links