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.
Source: The Journal of Pathology - Category: Pathology Authors: Tags: Invited Commentary Source Type: research