Atracurium Besylate and other neuromuscular blocking agents promote astroglial differentiation and deplete glioblastoma stem cells.

ABSTRACT: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults, with a median survival of about one year. This poor prognosis is attributed primarily to therapeutic resistance and tumor recurrence after surgical removal, with the root cause suggested to be found in glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs). Using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a reporter of astrocytic differentiation, we isolated multiple clones from three independent GSC lines which express GFAP in a remarkably stable fashion. We next show that elevated expression of GFAP is associated with reduced clonogenicity in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo. Utilizing this in vitro cell-based differentiation reporter system we screened chemical libraries and identified the non-depolarizing neuromuscular b

SUBMITTER: Spina R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4808011 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature