Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0017636 (glioblastoma)
 18,345 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The efficacy and cytotoxic properties of immunotoxin conjugates directed against the transferrin receptor were examined in cell lines and operative specimens from pediatric brain tumors. Dose-response relationships were assessed for immunotoxin-mediated inhibition of protein synthesis for two immunotoxins, 454A12-rRA and anti-tfnR-CRM 107. Three target medulloblastoma cell lines (DAOY, D283MED, and D341MED), a glioblastoma (U373), and a neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cell line exhibited similar sensitivity to both immunotoxins with IC50s in the 10(-9)-10(-10) M range. The time course of protein synthesis inhibition by the immunotoxins in DAOY cells showed that inhibition by anti-tfnR-CRM 107 was rapid and apparent by 6 h of incubation. In contrast, a response to 454A12-rRA was not observed until 16 h. Cell viability was decreased 30-40% by 24 h after removing 454A12-rRA (1 x 10(-9) M) and was maximally decreased 70-80% after 3 days. The efficacy of the immunotoxins on a variety of fresh specimens of pediatric brain tumors was also examined. The more aggressive and malignant tumor types such as glioblastoma multiforme and medulloblastoma had low IC50 values (10(-12) M), indicating that these tumors were extremely sensitive to transferrin receptor-targeted immunotoxins. In general, protein synthesis in slow-growing and benign tumors was not as greatly affected by immunotoxins. Immunoblots showed expression of transferrin receptors on the cell lines and tumors which correlated with in vitro sensitivity to immunotoxin. The results demonstrate that two immunotoxins targeted to the transferrin receptor are efficacious in killing brain tumor cell lines and primary tumor cultures at very low concentrations and that highly malignant tumors are especially sensitive to this cytotoxic response.
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PMID:Efficacy of transferrin receptor-targeted immunotoxins in brain tumor cell lines and pediatric brain tumors. 844 15

Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is a low-grade glioma that may recur as a malignant diffuse astrocytoma such as glioblastoma (GBM). While the molecular genetic basis of diffuse astrocytomas has been studied extensively, PXAs have not been analyzed in detail. We, therefore analyzed DNA from archival primary and recurrent PXAs from eight patients (three grade II PXAs without recurrence, one grade II PXA with recurrence as grade II PXA, two grade II PXAs with progression to GBM, and two grade III anaplastic PXAs with recurrence as grade III anaplastic PXA or GBM) for genetic changes associated with diffuse astrocytomas. Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis of p53 exons 5-8 revealed migration shifts in two cases, one primary PXA without recurrence and one recurrent grade II PXA in which the primary tumor did not show a shift. DNA sequencing showed two missense mutations in codons 220 (exon 6) and 292 (exon 8), respectively, mutations which have not been previously noted in astrocytomas. Differential polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated epidermal growth factor receptor gene amplification in only one tumor, a GBM without allelic loss of chromosome 10 that was the second GBM recurrence of an initial grade II PXA. Loss of heterozygosity studies on tumors from five patients, using three microsatellite polymorphisms on chromosome 10q and three on chromosome 19q, did not disclose allelic loss in any recurrent tumor. These findings suggest that the genetic events that underlie PXA formation and progression may differ significantly from those involved in diffuse astrocytoma tumorigenesis.
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PMID:Molecular genetic alterations in pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma. 883 42

We established two glioma cell lines from two surgical specimens obtained at different times from the same patient. One (No. 9R), which was derived from the recurrent tumor (glioblastoma, grade IV), proliferated more rapidly in vitro than the other (No. 9) from the primary tumor (slightly anaplastic astrocytoma, grade II-III). No. 9R showed heterotransplantability in nude mice, whereas No. 9 did not. These findings indicate that No. 9R has a more aggressive or malignant nature than No. 9. Both cell lines showed homozygous deletion of the representative tumor suppressor p16 and p15 genes, but no p53 gene alteration. However, examination of the overall mRNA expression profile using a commercially available cDNA-spotted membrane revealed much higher expression levels of several mRNAs, at least, in No. 9R than in No. 9, although the relationship between these mRNAs and the growth potentials remained unknown. These two cell lines, derived from the same individual, with different proliferating potentials may be useful for studies on the molecular bases of glioma malignancy and progression.
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PMID:Establishment of two glioma cell lines from two surgical specimens obtained at different times from the same individual. 1035 44

Malignant brain tumors are the most common solid tumors in children. The overall prognosis for this group of patients is still poor, emphasizing the importance of more effective therapies. Betulinic acid (Bet A) has been described as a novel cytotoxic compound active against melanoma and neuroblastoma cells. Here we report that Bet A was active against medulloblastoma and glioblastoma cell lines. In addition, Bet A exerted cytotoxic activity against primary tumor cells cultured from patients in 4 of 4 medulloblastoma-tumor samples tested and in 20 of 24 glioblastoma-tumor samples. Since a small percentage of primary-glioblastoma-tumor cells (4/24) did not respond to Bet-A treatment, resistance to Bet A might occur. Induction of apoptosis by Bet A involved mitochondrial perturbations, since inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition by the mitochondrion-specific inhibitor bongkrekic acid (BA) reduced Bet-A-induced apoptosis. In addition, mitochondria undergoing Bet-A-induced permeability transition triggered DNA fragmentation in isolated nuclei. Cytochrome c was released from mitochondria of Bet-A-treated cells, and might be involved in activation of caspases. Following treatment with Bet A, caspase-8, caspase-3 and PARP were proteolytically processed. Inhibition of caspase cleavage by the broad-range caspase inhibitor zVAD.fmk strongly reduced Bet-A-induced apoptosis, indicating that apoptosis was mediated by activation of caspases. Since Bet A did not exhibit cytotoxicity against murine neuronal cells in vitro, these findings suggest that Bet A may be a promising new agent for the treatment of medulloblastoma and glioblastoma cells that clearly warrants further pre-clinical and clinical evaluation.
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PMID:Betulinic acid: a new cytotoxic agent against malignant brain-tumor cells. 1039 62

We identified betulinic acid (BetA) as a new cytotoxic agent active against neuroectodermal tumor cells including neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma, glioblastoma and Ewing's sarcoma cells representing the most common solid tumors of childhood. BetA induced apoptosis independent of wild-type p53 protein and accumulation of death-inducing ligand/receptor systems such as CD95. BetA had a direct effect on mitochondria resulting in the release of soluble apoptogenic factors such as cytochrome c or AIF from mitochondria into the cytosol where they induced activation of caspases. Overexpression of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 or Bcl-XL that blocked loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release from mitochondria conferred resistance to BetA at the level of mitochondrial dysfunction, protease activation and nuclear fragmentation. Neuroblastoma cells resistant to CD95- or doxorubicin-triggered apoptosis remained sensitive to treatment with BetA suggesting that BetA may bypass some forms of resistance. Moreover, BetA exhibited potent antitumor activity on primary tumor cell cultures from all neuroblastoma (4/4), all medulloblastoma (4/4) and most glioblastoma patients (20/24) ex vivo. These findings suggest that BetA may be a promising new agent in the treatment of neuroectodermal tumors in vivo.
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PMID:Betulinic acid: a new chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of neuroectodermal tumors. 1047 70

The rate of homozygous deletions of CDKN2A/p16 is variable between different tumor entities, and in addition it is higher in established cell lines in comparison with primary tumors. Such incongruencies may reflect statistical sampling errors, true differences depending on tissue derivatisation and CDKN2A/p16 loss under selective pressure in tissue culture. Clarification of these issues is warranted in the context of defining tumor suppressor genes such as CDKN2A/p16 as targets for gene replacement therapies. We therefore compared established cell lines derived from human glioblastomas and their corresponding primary tumors by multiplex PCR methodology. Archival early passages were included to determine the time point at which the p16 status of a cell line changes if it is different from the original tumor. It was found that in 2 of 11 cases (18%) the primary tumor had no p16 alteration whereas the corresponding cell lines had a homozygous p16 deletion. Tracking the in vitro evolution of these two cell lines we found that CDKN2A/p16 was lost already in the earliest passages. This suggests a clonal outgrowth advantage of a subpopulation of p16 deleted tumor cells rather than instability of the CDKN2A/p16 genotype in vitro. Including 20 additional glioblastoma-derived cell lines we detected that in 19 of the total 31 lines at least one exon was lost bringing the rate of p16 loss in the whole panel to 61%. This compares to a rate of 49% which was found in original glioma tissue from 47 unselected other patients. It is concluded, that in cell culture selective pressure favours the outgrowth of pre-existing CDKN2A/p16 negative clones, which account for the difference of CDKN2A/p16 status between cell lines and tumors. In no case did we see a change of the CDKN2A/p16 status during prolonged tissue culture periods of up to 8 years.
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PMID:The rate of homozygous CDKN2A/p16 deletions in glioma cell lines and in primary tumors. 1053 82

Glioblastomas only rarely metastasize to sites outside the central nervous system, for reasons that are poorly understood. We report the clinicopathological and molecular genetic findings in 6 patients with metastatic glioblastoma. Four patients were under the age of 32 and all but 1 patient died within 2 yr of diagnosis. The number of metastases ranged from 1 to 3. At the time of death, 3 patients had apparent tumor control at their primary site. We evaluated DNA from both primary and metastatic glioblastomas for genetic alterations commonly found in glioblastomas: TP53 mutations, CDKN2A/p16 deletions, EGFR amplification, and allelic loss of chromosomes 1p, 10q and 19q. Four of 6 cases had TP53 mutations and only single cases had EGFR amplification, CDKN2A/p16 deletions, or allelic loss of 1p, 10q and 19q; 2 cases had no detectable genetic alterations. In 2 cases, the primary and metastatic tumors had identical genotypes. Remarkably, however, 2 cases had different TP53 alterations in the primary and metastatic lesions, or among the metastatic tumors, which suggests that some metastatic deposits may represent emergence of subclones that were not necessarily dominant in the primary tumor. The present observations and a review of the recent literature demonstrate that metastatic glioblastomas tend to occur in younger adults who do not follow long clinical courses, and may be characterized by TP53 mutations and differential clonal selection.
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PMID:Systemic metastasis in glioblastoma may represent the emergence of neoplastic subclones. 1113 24

An autopsy case of small cell glioblastoma, showing multiple extracranial metastases, is reported with special reference to histopathological differentiation from metastatic small cell carcinoma. Widely spread lesions in the bilateral lungs were developed after an operation and chemo-radiotherapy for glioblastoma, and the lung lesions led to fatal respiratory failure. Postmortem examination revealed multiple tumors in the lung, lymph nodes, and the heart, as well as local invasion of the primary tumor to the dura, skull, and the scalp. The mechanism of extracranial metastasis of brain tumor is discussed.
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PMID:[Extracranial metastasis of glioblastoma to the lung and heart with a histological resemblance to small cell carcinoma of the lung: an autopsy case]. 1144 15

The ability of glioma cells to migrate great distances from a primary tumor mass is the primary cause of tumor recurrence. The urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) is a serine protease that can initiate proteolytic cascades, which result in remodeling of extracellular matrix and basement membrane, allowing cells to move across and through these barriers. The binding between uPA and its receptor uPAR also mediates several signaling events that seem to contribute to the evolution of a migratory phenotype. In this study, we determined how the downregulation of uPA affects the signaling pathways leading to cell migration. Stably transfecting human glioblastoma cells with antisense uPA decreased the amount of cell-bound uPA and disrupted actin cytoskeleton formation and cell migration. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3k) and Akt signaling pathway has been suggested to mediate migration in various cancer cells. The antisense-uPA clones also had less phosphorylated PI3k and Akt than control cells, a finding associated with decreased cell migration, G2/M-phase arrest, and decreased clonogenic survival. Decreased activation of PI3k and the antiapoptotic factor Akt was not sufficient to induce apoptosis in the antisense-uPA clones, but staurosporine sensitized them to apoptosis to a greater extent than control cells. These results indicate that PI3k/Akt pathway is involved in the signaling cascade required to induce cell migration and that uPA has a direct role in regulating migration.
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PMID:Downregulation of uPA inhibits migration and PI3k/Akt signaling in glioblastoma cells. 1254 60

Aberrant receptor tyrosine kinase signaling plays an important role in the molecular pathogenesis of brain tumors. We have been studying a previously identified human glioblastoma-derived PDGFR-alpha mutant that has an in-frame deletion in the extracellular domain, causing loss of exons 8 and 9 (PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9)). In the primary tumor, this deletion mutant receptor was shown to be amplified and overexpressed. The purpose of this study was to determine the expression, activity, localization, and transformation properties of this deletion mutant. In the absence of serum, or PDGF-AA, PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9) was phosphorylated on tyrosine residues, indicating ligand-independent autoactivation. Localization by staining and cell surface biotinylation studies revealed expression of the deletion mutant predominantly in the cytoplasm, with very little present on the cell surface. To determine if PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9) was oncogenic, we transfected wild-type and mutant receptors into Rat1 cells and performed analyses of cell growth, in vitro transformation, and subcutaneous growth in the nude mouse. PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9)-expressing cells displayed enhanced cell growth and survival in low serum, and formed foci in monolayer cultures. PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9)-expressing Rat1 cells were also tumorigenic when injected subcutaneously into nude mice. Expression of PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9) was also associated with increased c-Jun phosphorylation in the absence of PDGF ligand, demonstrating also that the mutant receptor is associated with altered intracellular signaling. These data demonstrate that PDGFR-alpha(delta8,9) is transforming, and it is the first demonstration of a naturally occurring tumor-derived mutant PDGFR-alpha with oncogenic properties.
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PMID:A human brain tumor-derived PDGFR-alpha deletion mutant is transforming. 1256 64


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