bims-malgli Biomed News
on Biology of malignant gliomas
Issue of 2021–06–13
twelve papers selected by
Oltea Sampetrean, Keio University
  1. Multiscale rheology of glioma cells.
  2. Neural G0: a quiescent-like state found in neuroepithelial-derived cells and glioma.
  3. Synergistic immunotherapy of glioblastoma by dual targeting of IL-6 and CD40.
  4. On-tissue spatially resolved glycoproteomics guided by N-glycan imaging reveal global dysregulation of canine glioma glycoproteomic landscape.
  5. Detection of glioma infiltration at the tumor margin using quantitative stimulated Raman scattering histology.
  6. Experimental Design of Preclinical Experiments: Number of PDX Lines versus Subsampling within PDX Lines.
  7. Exploiting Radiation Therapy to Restore Immune Reactivity of Glioblastoma.
  8. The pseudogene PRELID1P6 promotes glioma progression via the hnHNPH1-Akt/mTOR axis.
  9. CAR T Cell-Based Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Glioblastoma.
  10. The immune landscape of common CNS malignancies: implications for immunotherapy.
  11. SMARCAL1 loss and alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) are enriched in giant cell glioblastoma.
  12. Immune Cells Influence Mesenchymal-Like Transition in Glioblastoma.
  1. Biomaterials. 2021 May 26. pii: S0142-9612(21)00259-3. [Epub ahead of print]275 120903
    Multiscale rheology of glioma cells.
    Charlotte Alibert, David Pereira, Nathan Lardier, Sandrine Etienne-Manneville, Bruno Goud, Atef Asnacios, Jean-Baptiste Manneville.
      Cells tend to soften during cancer progression, suggesting that mechanical phenotyping could be used as a diagnostic or prognostic method. Here we investigate the cell mechanics of gliomas, brain tumors that originate from glial cells or glial progenitors. Using two microrheology techniques, a single-cell parallel plates rheometer to probe whole-cell mechanics and optical tweezers to probe intracellular rheology, we show that cell mechanics discriminates human glioma cells of different grades. When probed globally, grade IV glioblastoma cells are softer than grade III astrocytoma cells, while they are surprisingly stiffer at the intracellular level. We explain this difference between global and local intracellular behaviours by changes in the composition and spatial organization of the cytoskeleton, and by changes in nuclear mechanics. Our study highlights the need to combine rheology techniques for potential diagnostic or prognostic methods based on cancer cell mechanophenotyping.
    Keywords:  Cytoskeleton; Glioblastoma; Intermediate filaments; Microrheology; Nucleus; Viscoelasticity
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120903
  2. Mol Syst Biol. 2021 Jun;17(6): e9522
    Neural G0: a quiescent-like state found in neuroepithelial-derived cells and glioma.
    Samantha A O'Connor, Heather M Feldman, Sonali Arora, Pia Hoellerbauer, Chad M Toledo, Philip Corrin, Lucas Carter, Megan Kufeld, Hamid Bolouri, Ryan Basom, Jeffrey Delrow, José L McFaline-Figueroa, Cole Trapnell, Steven M Pollard, Anoop Patel, Patrick J Paddison, Christopher L Plaisier.
      Single-cell RNA sequencing has emerged as a powerful tool for resolving cellular states associated with normal and maligned developmental processes. Here, we used scRNA-seq to examine the cell cycle states of expanding human neural stem cells (hNSCs). From these data, we constructed a cell cycle classifier that identifies traditional cell cycle phases and a putative quiescent-like state in neuroepithelial-derived cell types during mammalian neurogenesis and in gliomas. The Neural G0 markers are enriched with quiescent NSC genes and other neurodevelopmental markers found in non-dividing neural progenitors. Putative glioblastoma stem-like cells were significantly enriched in the Neural G0 cell population. Neural G0 cell populations and gene expression are significantly associated with less aggressive tumors and extended patient survival for gliomas. Genetic screens to identify modulators of Neural G0 revealed that knockout of genes associated with the Hippo/Yap and p53 pathways diminished Neural G0 in vitro, resulting in faster G1 transit, down-regulation of quiescence-associated markers, and loss of Neural G0 gene expression. Thus, Neural G0 represents a dynamic quiescent-like state found in neuroepithelial-derived cells and gliomas.
    Keywords:  G0; glioma; neural stem cells; quiescence; scRNA-seq
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209522
  3. Nat Commun. 2021 06 08. 12(1): 3424
    Synergistic immunotherapy of glioblastoma by dual targeting of IL-6 and CD40.
    Fan Yang, Zhenqiang He, Hao Duan, Duo Zhang, Juehui Li, Huijuan Yang, Jay F Dorsey, Wei Zou, S Ali Nabavizadeh, Stephen J Bagley, Kalil Abdullah, Steven Brem, Lin Zhang, Xiaowei Xu, Katelyn T Byrne, Robert H Vonderheide, Yanqing Gong, Yi Fan.
      Immunologically-cold tumors including glioblastoma (GBM) are refractory to checkpoint blockade therapy, largely due to extensive infiltration of immunosuppressive macrophages (Mϕs). Consistent with a pro-tumor role of IL-6 in alternative Mϕs polarization, we here show that targeting IL-6 by genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition moderately improves T-cell infiltration into GBM and enhances mouse survival; however, IL-6 inhibition does not synergize PD-1 and CTLA-4 checkpoint blockade. Interestingly, anti-IL-6 therapy reduces CD40 expression in GBM-associated Mϕs. We identify a Stat3/HIF-1α-mediated axis, through which IL-6 executes an anti-tumor role to induce CD40 expression in Mϕs. Combination of IL-6 inhibition with CD40 stimulation reverses Mϕ-mediated tumor immunosuppression, sensitizes tumors to checkpoint blockade, and extends animal survival in two syngeneic GBM models, particularly inducing complete regression of GL261 tumors after checkpoint blockade. Thus, antibody cocktail-based immunotherapy that combines checkpoint blockade with dual-targeting of IL-6 and CD40 may offer exciting opportunities for GBM and other solid tumors.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23832-3
  4. Cell Chem Biol. 2021 May 26. pii: S2451-9456(21)00224-5. [Epub ahead of print]
    On-tissue spatially resolved glycoproteomics guided by N-glycan imaging reveal global dysregulation of canine glioma glycoproteomic landscape.
    Stacy Alyse Malaker, Jusal Quanico, Antonella Raffo-Romero, Firas Kobeissy, Soulaimane Aboulouard, Dominique Tierny, Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi, Isabelle Fournier, Michel Salzet.
      Here, we present an approach to identify N-linked glycoproteins and deduce their spatial localization using a combination of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) N-glycan mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) and spatially resolved glycoproteomics. We subjected glioma biopsies to on-tissue PNGaseF digestion and MALDI-MSI and found that the glycan HexNAc4-Hex5-NeuAc2 was predominantly expressed in necrotic regions of high-grade canine gliomas. To determine the underlying sialo-glycoprotein, various regions in adjacent tissue sections were subjected to microdigestion and manual glycoproteomic analysis. Results identified haptoglobin as the protein associated with HexNAc4-Hex5-NeuAc2, thus directly linking glycan imaging with intact glycopeptide identification. In total, our spatially resolved glycoproteomics technique identified over 400 N-, O-, and S- glycopeptides from over 30 proteins, demonstrating the diverse array of glycosylation present on the tissue slices and the sensitivity of our technique. Ultimately, this proof-of-principle work demonstrates that spatially resolved glycoproteomics greatly complement MALDI-MSI in understanding dysregulated glycosylation.
    Keywords:  MALDI-MSI; glioblastoma; glycan imaging; glycoproteomics; haptoglobin; hypersialylation; sialic acid; spatially resolved glycoproteomics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.05.007
  5. Sci Rep. 2021 Jun 09. 11(1): 12162
    Detection of glioma infiltration at the tumor margin using quantitative stimulated Raman scattering histology.
    Melike Pekmezci, Ramin A Morshed, Pranathi Chunduru, Balaji Pandian, Jacob Young, Javier E Villanueva-Meyer, Tarik Tihan, Emily A Sloan, Manish K Aghi, Annette M Molinaro, Mitchel S Berger, Shawn L Hervey-Jumper.
      In the management of diffuse gliomas, the identification and removal of tumor at the infiltrative margin remains a central challenge. Prior work has demonstrated that fluorescence labeling tools and radiographic imaging are useful surgical adjuvants with macroscopic resolution. However, they lose sensitivity at the tumor margin and have limited clinical utility for lower grade histologies. Fiber-laser based stimulated Raman histology (SRH) is an optical imaging technique that provides microscopic tissue characterization of unprocessed tissues. It remains unknown whether SRH of tissues taken from the infiltrative glioma margin will identify microscopic residual disease. Here we acquired glioma margin specimens for SRH, histology, and tumor specific tissue characterization. Generalized linear mixed models were used to evaluate agreement. We find that SRH identified residual tumor in 82 of 167 margin specimens (49%), compared to IHC confirming residual tumor in 72 of 128 samples (56%), and H&E confirming residual tumor in 82 of 169 samples (49%). Intraobserver agreements between all 3 modalities were confirmed. These data demonstrate that SRH detects residual microscopic tumor at the infiltrative glioma margin and may be a promising tool to enhance extent of resection.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91648-8
  6. Neuro Oncol. 2021 Jun 09. pii: noab137. [Epub ahead of print]
    Experimental Design of Preclinical Experiments: Number of PDX Lines versus Subsampling within PDX Lines.
    Jeanette E Eckel-Passow, Gaspar J Kitange, Paul A Decker, Matthew L Kosel, Danielle M Burgenske, Ann L Oberg, Jann N Sarkaria.
       BACKGROUND: Appropriately designed preclinical patient-derived xenograft (PDX) experiments are important to accurately inform human clinical trials. There is little experimental design guidance regarding choosing the number of PDX lines to study, and the number of mice within each PDX line.
    METHODS: Retrospective data from IDH-wildtype glioblastoma preclinical experiments evaluating a uniform regimen of fractionated radiation (RT), temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy, and concurrent RT/TMZ across 27 PDX lines were used to evaluate experimental designs and empirically estimate statistical power for analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Cox regression.
    RESULTS: Increasing the number of PDX lines resulted in more precise and reproducible estimates of effect size. To achieve 80% statistical power using ANOVA, experiments using a single PDX line required subsampling six mice per PDX for each treatment group to detect a difference in survival of 135 days, and nine mice per PDX to detect a difference of 100 days. Alternatively, a design that used 10 PDX lines had greater than 80% power to detect a difference of 135 days with a single mouse per PDX per treatment group, a difference of 100 days with two mice per PDX per treatment, and 35 days with more than 10 mice per PDX per treatment. Power for Cox regression was slightly smaller than ANOVA for very small experiments regardless of effect size, and slightly higher than ANOVA for detecting a smaller effect size of 35 days difference in survival for moderate-to-large experiments.
    CONCLUSIONS: Experimental designs using few mice across many PDX lines can provide robust results and account for inter-tumor variability.
    Keywords:  GBM; PDX; experimental design; glioblastoma; preclinical trial
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noab137
  7. Front Oncol. 2021 ;11 671044
    Exploiting Radiation Therapy to Restore Immune Reactivity of Glioblastoma.
    Mara De Martino, Oscar Padilla, Camille Daviaud, Cheng-Chia Wu, Robyn D Gartrell, Claire Vanpouille-Box.
      Glioblastoma (GBM) is among the most aggressive of brain tumors and confers a dismal prognosis despite advances in surgical technique, radiation delivery methods, chemotherapy, and tumor-treating fields. While immunotherapy (IT) has improved the care of several adult cancers with previously dismal prognoses, monotherapy with IT in GBM has shown minimal response in first recurrence. Recent discoveries in lymphatics and evaluation of blood brain barrier offer insight to improve the use of ITs and determine the best combinations of therapies, including radiation. We highlight important features of the tumor immune microenvironment in GBM and potential for combining radiation and immunotherapy to improve prognosis in this devastating disease.
    Keywords:  adjuvanticity; antigenicity; glioblastoma; immunosuppression; immunotherapy; radiotherapy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.671044
  8. Oncogene. 2021 Jun 09.
    The pseudogene PRELID1P6 promotes glioma progression via the hnHNPH1-Akt/mTOR axis.
    Shaoyan Xi, Haiping Cai, Jiabin Lu, Yu Zhang, Yanjiao Yu, Furong Chen, Qitao Huang, Fang Wang, Zhongping Chen.
      Research over the past decade has suggested important roles for pseudogenes in glioma. This study aimed to show that pseudogene PRELI domain-containing 1 pseudogene 6 (PRELID1P6) promotes glioma progression. Aberrant expression of genes was screened using The Cancer Genome Atlas database. We found that mRNA level of PRELID1P6 was highly upregulated in glioma and was associated with a shorter survival time. Functional studies showed that the knockdown of PRELID1P6 decreased cell proliferation, sphere formation, and clone formation ability and blocked the cell cycle transition at G0/G1, while overexpression of PRELID1P6 had the opposite effects. Mechanistically, knockdown of PRELID1P6 changed the cellular localization of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein H1 (hnRNPH1) from nucleus to cytoplasm, which promoted ubiquitin-mediated degradation of hnRNPH1. RNA-sequence and gene set enrichment analysis suggested that knockdown of PRELID1P6 regulates the apoptosis signaling pathway. Western blotting showed that PRELID1P6 increased TRF2 expression by hnRNPH1-mediated alternative splicing effect and activated the Akt/mTOR pathway. Furthermore, Akt inhibitor MK2206 treatment reversed the oncogenic function of PRELID1P6. PRELID1P6 was also found to be negatively regulated by miR-1825. Our result showed that PRELID1P6 promotes glioma progression through the hnHNPH1-Akt/mTOR pathway. These findings shed new light on the important role of PRELID1P6 as a novel oncogene for glioma.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-021-01854-x
  9. Front Neurosci. 2021 ;15 662064
    CAR T Cell-Based Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Glioblastoma.
    Luke Maggs, Giulia Cattaneo, Ali Emre Dal, Ali Sanjari Moghaddam, Soldano Ferrone.
      Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in adults. Current treatment options typically consist of surgery followed by chemotherapy or more frequently radiotherapy, however, median patient survival remains at just over 1 year. Therefore, the need for novel curative therapies for GBM is vital. Characterization of GBM cells has contributed to identify several molecules as targets for immunotherapy-based treatments such as EGFR/EGFRvIII, IL13Rα2, B7-H3, and CSPG4. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes collected from a patient can be genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) specific for an identified tumor antigen (TA). These CAR T cells can then be re-administered to the patient to identify and eliminate cancer cells. The impressive clinical responses to TA-specific CAR T cell-based therapies in patients with hematological malignancies have generated a lot of interest in the application of this strategy with solid tumors including GBM. Several clinical trials are evaluating TA-specific CAR T cells to treat GBM. Unfortunately, the efficacy of CAR T cells against solid tumors has been limited due to several factors. These include the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, inadequate trafficking and infiltration of CAR T cells and their lack of persistence and activity. In particular, GBM has specific limitations to overcome including acquired resistance to therapy, limited diffusion across the blood brain barrier and risks of central nervous system toxicity. Here we review current CAR T cell-based approaches for the treatment of GBM and summarize the mechanisms being explored in pre-clinical, as well as clinical studies to improve their anti-tumor activity.
    Keywords:  CAR T cell; clinical trial; glioblastoma; immunotherapy; preclinical; tumor antigen
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.662064
  10. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2021 Jun 11.
    The immune landscape of common CNS malignancies: implications for immunotherapy.
    Martina Ott, Robert M Prins, Amy B Heimberger.
      Immunotherapy has enabled remarkable therapeutic responses across cancers of various lineages, albeit with some notable exceptions such as glioblastoma. Several previous misconceptions, which have impaired progress in the past, including the presence and role of the blood-brain barrier and a lack of lymphatic drainage, have been refuted. Nonetheless, a subset of patients with brain metastases but, paradoxically, not the vast majority of those with gliomas are able to respond to immune-checkpoint inhibitors. Immune profiling of samples obtained from patients with central nervous system malignancies using techniques such as mass cytometry and single-cell sequencing along with experimental data from genetically engineered mouse models have revealed fundamental differences in immune composition and immunobiology that not only explain the differences in responsiveness to these agents but also lay the foundations for immunotherapeutic strategies that are applicable to gliomas. Herein, we review the emerging data on the differences in immune cell composition, function and interactions within central nervous system tumours and provide guidance on the development of novel immunotherapies for these historically difficult-to-treat cancers.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-021-00518-9
  11. Mod Pathol. 2021 Jun 08.
    SMARCAL1 loss and alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) are enriched in giant cell glioblastoma.
    Jacqueline A Brosnan-Cashman, Christine M Davis, Bill H Diplas, Alan K Meeker, Fausto J Rodriguez, Christopher M Heaphy.
      Subsets of high-grade gliomas, including glioblastoma (GBM), are known to utilize the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway for telomere length maintenance. However, the telomere maintenance profile of one subtype of GBM-giant cell GBM-has not been extensively studied. Here, we investigated the prevalence of ALT, as well as ATRX and SMARCAL1 protein loss, in a cohort of classic giant cell GBM and GBM with giant cell features. To determine the presence of ALT, a telomere-specific fluorescence in situ hybridization assay was performed on 15 cases of classic giant cell GBM, 28 additional GBMs found to have giant cell features, and 1 anaplastic astrocytoma with giant cell features. ATRX, SMARCAL1, and IDH1 protein status were assessed in a proportion of cases by immunohistochemistry and were compared to clinical-pathologic and molecular characteristics. In the overall cohort of 44 cases, 19 (43%) showed evidence of ALT. Intriguingly, of the ALT-positive cases, only 9 (47.4%) displayed loss of the ALT suppressor ATRX by immunohistochemistry. Since inactivating mutations in SMARCAL1 have been identified in ATRX wild-type ALT-positive gliomas, we developed an immunohistochemistry assay for SMARCAL1 protein expression using genetically validated controls. Of the 19 ALT-positive cases, 6 (31.5%) showed loss or mis-localization of SMARCAL1 by immunohistochemistry. Of these cases, four retained ATRX protein expression, while two cases also displayed ATRX loss. Additionally, we assessed five cases from which multiple temporal samples were available and ALT status was concordant between both tumor biopsies. In summary, we have identified a subset of giant cell GBM that utilize the ALT telomere maintenance mechanism. Importantly, in addition to ATRX loss, ALT-positive tumors harboring SMARCAL1 alterations are prevalent in giant cell GBM.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41379-021-00841-7
  12. Cancer Discov. 2021 Jun 11.
    Immune Cells Influence Mesenchymal-Like Transition in Glioblastoma.
      Macrophages and cancer cells interact to influence mesenchymal-like programs in glioblastomas.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-RW2021-082
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