Comment on Li et al. BDP1 Variants I1264M and V1347M Significantly Associated with Clinical Outcomes of Pediatric Neuroblastoma Patients Imply a New Prognostic Biomarker: A 121-Patient Cancer Genome Study. Diagnostics 2021, 11, 2364

In 2021, Li et al. published an article on BDP1 variants and implications in pediatric neuroblastoma patients [1]. BDP1 (B-double prime 1) was characterized as a subunit of TFIIIB required for accurate initiation by RNA polymerase III [2,3]. Li et al. cite Gensler’s study entitled “Negative Regulation of HER2 Signaling by the PEST-type Protein-tyrosine Phosphatase BDP1” as evidence for the TFIIIIB associated BDP1 subunit as playing a key role in breast cancer [4]. In Gensler’s work, the BDP1 protein they refer to is brain-derived phosphatase 1, as noted in Gensler’s abbreviation section [4]. Gensler et al. [4] state in the introduction of their manuscript that brain-derived phosphatase 1 (BDP1) belonged to the family of PEST-containing protein tyrosine phosphatases [5] and was characterized in 1996 before the human homolog of yeast BDP1 was cloned and characterized in 2000 [2,3]. The human TFIIIB BDP1 subunit has not been described as a PEST-containing protein tyrosine kinase. A universal nomenclature for the RNA polymerase III initiation transcription factor TFIIIB complex was adopted in 2002 [6]. The official gene symbol for brain-derived phosphatase I approved by the Hugo Gene Nomenclature Committee is PTPN18 [7]. Li et al. should review the references cited demonstrating a role for BDP1 in human cancers [1]. The availability of genomics data makes it imperative for authors to strictly utilize the Hugo Gene Nomenclature Committee’s approved nomenclature when analyzing available datasets and citing published research studies.