Bone marrow non-mesenchymal mononuclear cells induce functional differentiation of neuroblastoma cells

Less is known about the non-mesenchymal mononuclear cell fraction of human bone marrow on functional adaptation of neuroblastoma cells. Using immunocytochemistry, we showed that bone-marrow mononuclear cell (BMMC)-conditioned medium can induce tyrosine hydroxylase expression in neuroblastoma cells, which is similar to the effect of retinoic acid. Using quantitative RT-PCR, we showed that NGF, CNTF, and BDNF mRNAs were detected in unfractionated BMMC populations from all human donors at different expression levels. Our results suggest that cells of the non-mesenchymal mononuclear cell fraction can induce functional adaptation of neuroblastoma cells, probably via their secreted trophic factors.