Abstract 147: Identification of cell sub-populations in Neuroblastoma cell lines with single-cell-sequencing analysis

Abstract Neuroblastoma is the most frequent extracranial tumor in neonatal patients. Engineering SKNBE2 Myc-N amplified Neuroblastoma cell lines we generated individual clones expressing NDM29 non-coding-RNA at different levels. Using these cell models we documented a specific role of NDM29 in tumor cell differentiation leading to the identification of novel genes to be pharmacologically targeted for an efficient control of tumor malignancy (CA9 and MCM2 genes). Further studies taking advantage of the same models suggested the possible co-existence of different cell sub-populations in the apparently homogeneous cell culture with possible different roles in tumor maintenance and growth. Here we test this hypothesis by performing single-cell sequencing analysis and identified different sub-populations on the base of their gene expression patterns. The characterization of their specific profiles of membrane markers allowed an efficient separation of the individual populations by FACS analysis. Our preliminary results show the co-existance of cells with a marked neural phenotype with other two populations one VEGF secreting and the other VEGF recipient/responder. These preliminary findings suggest further detailed investigations of possible paracrine loops that might be at the base of tumor cell nodule growth and maintenance. Citation Format: Michele Tomanelli, Davide Ceresa, Adriana Bajetto, Paola Modesto, Paolo Malatesta, Tullio Florio, Aldo Pagano. Identification of cell sub-populations in Neuroblastoma cell lines with single-cell-sequencing analysis abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts) ; 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84 (6Suppl): Abstract nr 147.