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Scanning electron microscopic evidence for neural differentiation in Ewing's sarcoma cell lines

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Summary

A number of recent studies have suggested a relationship between Ewing's sarcoma (ES) and other small round cell tumours of childhood such as peripheral neuroepithelioma (PN). We report scanning electron microscopic studies on the character of induced neural differentiation in ES, neuroblastoma, PN, osteosarcoma and colon carcinoma. We found evidence of neural differentiation in both neural lines and in one of two Ewing's lines before treatment. After differentiation, both Ewing's and neural lines developed neuritic processes with varicosities and little arborization, except for the initially undifferentiated Ewing's line (A4573) which displayed extensive lateral sprouting from neuritic processes after differentiation. Neither treated nor untreated osteosarcoma or colon carcinoma displayed any evidence of neural differentiation. Further, neuroblastoma cells are easily distinguished from ES and PN by virtue of their single, unbranched neuntes and lack of lateral sprouting or filopodia. These results provide further evidence for the neural character and close relationship between ES and PN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Medical School, University of Valencia, Avd. Blasco Ibañez n∘ 17, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    Samuel Navarro, Manuel González-Devesa, Antonio Ferrández-Izquierdo & Antonio Llombart-Bosch

  2. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Timothy J. Triche

Authors
  1. Samuel Navarro
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  2. Manuel González-Devesa
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  3. Antonio Ferrández-Izquierdo
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  4. Timothy J. Triche
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  5. Antonio Llombart-Bosch
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Supported by U.S.-Spain Joint Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation Grant No. CCA-8309/058

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Navarro, S., González-Devesa, M., Ferrández-Izquierdo, A. et al. Scanning electron microscopic evidence for neural differentiation in Ewing's sarcoma cell lines. Vichows Archiv A Pathol Anat 416, 383–391 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01605142

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01605142

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