Innate immune sensor laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 suppresses tumor cell growth and functions as a prognostic marker in neuroblastoma

The innate immune receptors, such as toll‐like receptor 3 (TLR3), melanoma differentiation‐associated 5 (MDA5) and retinoic acid‐inducible gene‐I (RIG‐I), have been shown to be differentially expressed in neuroblastoma (NB) and promote dsRNA poly (I:C)‐induced NB suppression in vitro and in vivo. However, the role of another important innate immune cytosolic sensor, laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 (LGP2), in the cancer behavior of NB remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that the expression levels of LGP2 were either low or undetectable in all NB cell lines tested with or without MYCN amplification. LGP2 expression levels were significantly increased only in NB cells without MYCN amplification, including SK‐N‐AS and SK‐N‐FI after poly (I:C) treatment in vitro and in mouse xenograft models. Ectopic expression of LGP2 in NB cells significantly enhanced poly (I:C)‐induced NB cell death associated with downregulation of MDA5, RIG‐I, MAVS and Bcl‐2, as well as upregulation of Noxa and tBid. By immunofluorescence analyses, LGP2 localized mainly in the cytoplasm of NB cells after poly (I:C) treatment. In human NB tissue samples, cytoplasmic LGP2 expression was positively correlated with histological differentiation and inversely correlated with MYCN amplification. Positive cytoplasmic LGP2 expression in tumor tissues could predict a favorable outcome in NB patients independent of other prognostic factors. In short, LGP2 was effective in promoting poly (I:C)‐induced NB suppression and cytoplasmic LGP2 can serve as an independent favorable prognostic factor in NB patients.