Cell of origin affects malignancy and drug sensitivity of brain tumors
o develop improved therapies for glioblastoma , more knowledge is needed about how the cell of origin affects the characteristics of the cancer cells. Such studies must initially be performed in mice since it is not possible to identify the cell of origin in patient material. In the present study the researchers used several clinically relevant glioblastoma models in mice and found that tumors that originated from immature neural stem cells developed faster than tumors that originated from more differentiated glial cells. "We discovered that several important characteristics of the cancer cells could be linked to the tumor's cell of origin. Immature neural stem cells gave rise to glioblastomas that grew faster and were more malignant than those that originated from glial cells. tumors from neural stem cells also contained more glioblastoma stem cells, cells that are believed to give rise to tumor recurrence after therapy," says Lene Uhrbom, senior lecturer at the Depa...