CELF2 Sustains a Proliferating/OLIG2+ Glioblastoma Cell Phenotype via the Epigenetic Repression of SOX3.

ABSTRACT: Glioblastomas (GBs) are incurable brain tumors. The persistence of aggressive stem-like tumor cells after cytotoxic treatments compromises therapeutic efficacy, leading to GBM recurrence. Forcing the GBM cells to irreversibly abandon their aggressive stem-like phenotype may offer an alternative to conventional cytotoxic treatments. Here, we show that the RNA binding protein CELF2 is strongly expressed in mitotic and OLIG2-positive GBM cells, while it is downregulated in differentiated and non-mitotic cells by miR-199a-3p, exemplifying GBM intra-tumor heterogeneity. Using patient-derived cells and human GBM samples, we demonstrate that CELF2 plays a key role in maintaining the proliferative/OLIG2 cell phenotype with clonal and tumorigenic properties. Indeed, we show that CELF2 deficiency in

SUBMITTER: Turchi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10605641 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature