Genomewide analysis of gene expression associated with Tcof1 in mouse neuroblastoma.

Mutations in the Treacher Collins syndrome gene, TCOF1, cause a disorder of craniofacial development. We manipulated the levels of Tcof1 and its protein treacle in a murine neuroblastoma cell line to identify downstream changes in gene expression using a microarray platform. We identified a set of genes that have similar expression with Tcof1 as well as a set of genes that are negatively correlated with Tcof1 expression. We also showed that the level of Tcof1 and treacle expression is downregulated during differentiation of neuroblastoma cells into neuronal cells. Inhibition of Tcof1 expression by siRNA induced morphological changes in neuroblastoma cells that mimic differentiation. Thus, expression of Tcof1 and treacle synthesis play an important role in the proliferation of neuroblastoma cells and we have identified genes that may be important in this pathway.