Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating form of primary brain cancer with poor prognosis. GBM cells are heterogeneous containing a subpopulation of glioma stem cells (GSCs)-, chemo- and radiotherapy resistant cells with prominent tumorigenic ability, and non- GSCs. Here, we propose a novel concept for the significance of non-GSCs for GBM stemness - irradiation triggers paradoxical signals from apoptotic signals in non-GSCs to induce an inter-cellular proliferative signal in the neighboring GSCs, rendering them hyper- proliferative and therapy-resistant GSCs in GBM. This hypothesis is based on the elegant studies in Drosophila eye cancer models demonstrating that inter-clonal cooperation and signaling from apoptotic clones provoke aggressive growth of neighboring tumorigenic clones. These aggressive tumors show up-regulation of JNK (upstream of c-JUN), Dronc (Drosophila Casp9) and Wg (Drosophila Wnt). Our preliminary data suggests that, even in human cancers, c-JUN (and its binding partner MELK), Caspase 9, and Wnt likely contribute to the hyper-proliferation in aggressive tumors. Given the importance of Wnt in the CNS development and self- renewal of stem cells, we hypothesize that, similar to the Drosophila cancer models, induction of apoptosis in non-GSCs drives compensatory proliferation of GSCs through Wnt activation in humans. We propose to study the inter-cellular interactions between the apoptosis-prone non-GSC cells and the hyper-proliferative GSCs using the in vitro tumor sphere cultures and xenograft based mammalian models. As the proof-of-principal and for the clinical development, we will then test the efficacy of the MELK inhibitor and the WNT inhibitor, both of which were currently tested by Phase I Clinical Trial for advanced non-CNS cancers. We believe that this co- clinical trial approach will guide us to design successful Phase II/III trils for clinical use of novel anti-cancer drugs. Overall, our research is novel because the conceptual idea that the dying non-GSCs secrete signals that induce proliferation of GSCs is promising and untested. Our approaches and investigation will yield insights about molecular signaling interactions in the context of post-irradiation management of GBM, and is likely to revise our understanding of changes in gene expression and cell-cell interactions post-irradiation, which is a vital area of cancer biology with wide-applications to many cancer types.

Public Health Relevance

High Grade Glioma (HGG) is a devastating cancer in the brain with few therapeutic options, and therefore, more effective treatment is urgently needed. This proposal will build on our recent discovery of tumor repopulation after therapeutic failure. Specifically, our proposed studies will determine whether inter-cellular signaling between therapy-induced dying tumor cells and surviving cells leads to creation of recurrent tumors with even more therapy resistant phenotype. This study will ultimately facilitate the rational development of novel therapeutic strategies with significant potential for early translation to the clinic.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA183991-03
Application #
9243096
Study Section
Cancer Molecular Pathobiology Study Section (CAMP)
Program Officer
Espey, Michael G
Project Start
2015-02-15
Project End
2020-01-31
Budget Start
2017-02-01
Budget End
2018-01-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
$287,392
Indirect Cost
$82,883
Name
University of Alabama Birmingham
Department
Neurosurgery
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
063690705
City
Birmingham
State
AL
Country
United States
Zip Code
35294
Sarkar, Ankita; Gogia, Neha; Glenn, Neil et al. (2018) A soy protein Lunasin can ameliorate amyloid-beta 42 mediated neurodegeneration in Drosophila eye. Sci Rep 8:13545
Sadahiro, Hirokazu; Kang, Kyung-Don; Gibson, Justin T et al. (2018) Activation of the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase AXL Regulates the Immune Microenvironment in Glioblastoma. Cancer Res 78:3002-3013
Pavlyukov, Marat S; Yu, Hai; Bastola, Soniya et al. (2018) Apoptotic Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Promote Malignancy of Glioblastoma Via Intercellular Transfer of Splicing Factors. Cancer Cell 34:119-135.e10
Rooj, Arun K; Ricklefs, Franz; Mineo, Marco et al. (2017) MicroRNA-Mediated Dynamic Bidirectional Shift between the Subclasses of Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells. Cell Rep 19:2026-2032
Wang, Jia; Cheng, Peng; Pavlyukov, Marat S et al. (2017) Targeting NEK2 attenuates glioblastoma growth and radioresistance by destabilizing histone methyltransferase EZH2. J Clin Invest 127:3075-3089
Godlewski, Jakub; Ferrer-Luna, Ruben; Rooj, Arun K et al. (2017) MicroRNA Signatures and Molecular Subtypes of Glioblastoma: The Role of Extracellular Transfer. Stem Cell Reports 8:1497-1505
Huang, Tianzhi; Alvarez, Angel A; Pangeni, Rajendra P et al. (2016) A regulatory circuit of miR-125b/miR-20b and Wnt signalling controls glioblastoma phenotypes through FZD6-modulated pathways. Nat Commun 7:12885
Ouchi, Rie; Okabe, Sachiko; Migita, Toshiro et al. (2016) Senescence from glioma stem cell differentiation promotes tumor growth. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 470:275-281
Kim, Sung-Hak; Ezhilarasan, Ravesanker; Phillips, Emma et al. (2016) Serine/Threonine Kinase MLK4 Determines Mesenchymal Identity in Glioma Stem Cells in an NF-?B-dependent Manner. Cancer Cell 29:201-13
Gallego-Perez, Daniel; Chang, Lingqian; Shi, Junfeng et al. (2016) On-Chip Clonal Analysis of Glioma-Stem-Cell Motility and Therapy Resistance. Nano Lett 16:5326-32

Showing the most recent 10 out of 14 publications