Revealing the Glioma Cancer Stem Cell Interactome, One Niche at a Time

Abstract

Glioblastoma cancer stem cells (CSCs) are insidious. They extensively infiltrate brain tissue, resist radio- and chemotherapy, and are thought to represent the ultimate drivers of disease progression. New research has identified CD109, a GPI-anchored protein, on a population of perivascular CSCs. Interrogation of primary human tumor tissue suggests a role for CD109-expressing CSCs in the progression from low- to high-grade glioma, and animal modeling reveals a critical role for CD109 in the maintenance of the GBM CSC phenotype. Further, CD109-expressing CSCs appear to drive the proliferation of adjacent non-stem tumor cells (NSTCs) in a rare example of CSC/NSTC cooperative interaction. With this Commentary, we highlight the newly revealed biology of CD109 and offer a synthesis of the published information on glioma CSCs in a variety of anatomical growth zones. We also discuss the landscape of interacting cells within GBM tumors and the few reported examples of pro-tumorigenic, interactive tumor cell partnerships, as well as a variety of tumor cell/non-transformed neural cell interactions.

from #ORL-AlexandrosSfakianakis via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2ll3VYL