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A paired comparison between glioblastoma “stem cells” and differentiated cells
Author(s) -
Schneider Matthias,
Ströbele Stephanie,
nenmacher Lisa,
Siegelin Markus D.,
Tepper Melanie,
Stroh Sebastien,
Hasslacher Sebastian,
Enzenmüller Stefanie,
Strauss Gudrun,
Baumann Bernd,
KarpelMassler Georg,
Westhoff MikeAndrew,
Debatin KlausMichael,
Halatsch MarcEric
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.29908
Subject(s) - stem cell , cancer stem cell , temozolomide , biology , cancer research , cellular differentiation , glioblastoma , malignancy , u87 , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene
Cancer stem cells (CSC) have been postulated to be responsible for the key features of a malignancy and its maintenances, as well as therapy resistance, while differentiated cells are believed to make up the rapidly growing tumour bulk. It is therefore important to understand the characteristics of those two distinct cell populations in order to devise treatment strategies which effectively target both cohorts, in particular with respect to cancers, such as glioblastoma. Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain tumour in adults, with a mean patient survival of 12–15 months. Importantly, therapeutic improvements have not been forthcoming in the last decade. In this study we compare key features of three pairs of glioblastoma cell populations, each pair consisting of stem cell‐like and differentiated cells derived from an individual patient. Our data suggest that while growth rates and expression of key survival‐ and apoptosis‐mediating proteins are more similar according to differentiation status than genetic similarity, we found no intrinsic differences in response to standard therapeutic interventions, namely exposure to radiation or the alkylating agent temozolomide. Interestingly, we could demonstrate that both stem cell‐like and differentiated cells possess the ability to form stem cell‐containing tumours in immunocompromised mice and that differentiated cells could potentially be dedifferentiated to potential stem cells. Taken together our data suggest that the differences between tumour stem cell and differentiated cell are particular fluent in glioblastoma.