Poly (C)-Binding Protein 1: A Novel Function Attributed to the Nervous System Microenvironment

Poly (C)-binding protein 1 (PCBP1), which acts as an RNA binding protein, has multiple functions and regulates gene expression by binding to polycytosine, poly (C). The aim of the present study was to investigate the novel function of PCBP1 in the nervous system microenvironmen. The overexpression of PCBP1 has a critical effect on the proliferation and anti-apoptosis of neuroblastoma and glial cells in the direct model, whereas the overexpression of PCBP1 in neuroblastoma or glial cells cannot affect the proliferation or apoptosis of neuroblastoma or glial cells through substances secreted extracellularly. Fur-thermore, through direct or indirect actions, PCBP1 suppressed the expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 and increased the levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10; addi-tionally, PCBP1 changed the expression of functional proteins, such as heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The results suggest that PCBP1 can regulate the nervous system in proliferation, apoptosis, inflammatory re-sponse and expression of relevant functional proteins, and it could provide novel targets for gene treating human neurological disorders.