Aberrantly activated Cox-2 and Wnt signaling interact to maintain cancer stem cells in glioblastoma.

ABSTRACT: Glioblastoma recurrence after aggressive therapy typically occurs within six months, and patients inevitably succumb to their disease. Tumor recurrence is driven by a subpopulation of cancer stem cells in glioblastoma (glioblastoma stem-like cells, GSCs), which exhibit resistance to cytotoxic therapies, compared to their non-stem-cell counterparts. Here, we show that the Cox-2 and Wnt signaling pathways are aberrantly activated in GSCs and interact to maintain the cancer stem cell identity. Cox-2 stimulates GSC self-renewal and proliferation through prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), which in turn activates the Wnt signaling pathway. Wnt signaling underlies PGE2-induced GSC self-renewal and independently directs GSC self-renewal and proliferation. Inhibition of PGE2 enhances the effect of temozolomi

SUBMITTER: Wu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5669884 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature