DBH

Overview

DBH (dopamine beta-hydroxylase) encodes the enzyme that converts dopamine to norepinephrine, making it a defining marker of the noradrenergic/adrenergic differentiation program. In neuroblastoma, DBH expression marks well-differentiated, low-risk tumor cells and is used as a readout of the noradrenergic identity that distinguishes favorable from unfavorable tumors.

Alterations observed in the corpus

  • DBH marks the noradrenergic (NOR) tumor clusters (nC5/nC7/nC8/nC9) in neuroblastoma snRNA-seq and is part of the noradrenergic/adrenergic panel (PHOX2B, PHOX2A, TH, DBH, CHGA, CHGB, PNMT, ISL1) enriched in low-risk tumors and postnatal chromaffin cells PMID:34493726.
  • RNA velocity and pseudotime analyses identify a differentiation trajectory from a MKI67+ progenitor (hC1) through a DBH+ noradrenergic intermediate stage to a PNMT+ adrenergic state within the normal postnatal adrenal gland PMID:34493726.
  • NOR clusters over-express DBH (alongside NTRK1, TH, PHOX2A, PHOX2B, and ISL1; all FDR <0.01, Welch’s t-test), in contrast to the undifferentiated high-risk nC3 cluster which lacks DBH expression PMID:34493726.

Cancer types (linked)

  • NBL — DBH expression is a transcriptional marker of noradrenergic/low-risk tumor identity; absence in undifferentiated nC3 cluster distinguishes high-risk neuroblastoma PMID:34493726.

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

Therapeutic relevance

  • DBH expression level serves as a differentiation state indicator; high-risk MYCN-amplified tumors lack DBH expression, whereas differentiation-inducing strategies are expected to restore noradrenergic identity PMID:34493726.

Open questions

  • Whether the DBH+ noradrenergic intermediate in the hC1 → chromaffin differentiation trajectory represents a targetable or reversible state in neuroblastoma is not addressed PMID:34493726.

Sources

This page was processed by entity-page-writer on 2026-04-15.