DNA damage or growth factor withdrawal does not evoke activation of MYB transcription factors in neuronal cancer cell lines

It has been recently observed that MYB proteins are induced in neuronal cell cultures exposed to DNA damaging agents or growth factor deprivation. While it has been proposed that MYB proteins activity is required to bring about death in neuronal cells subjected to apoptotic stimuli, here we show that MYB is not activated in differentiated pheochromocytoma-12 cells (PC12) or LAN5 cells exposed to the DNA damaging agent campothecin or in differentiated PC12 cells subjected to nerve growth factor withdrawal. We conclude that MYB activation cannot be generalised in terminally differentiated neuronal cancer cell lines.