Scientists Are Exploring Whether Malignant Neural Stem Cells Give Rise To Brain Tumor Stem Cells

It is believed that glioma is derived from brain tumor stem cells. Despite this, the source and molecular signal pathways of these cells are still unclear. The potential of neural stem cells to transform into brain tumor stem cells has long been considered, but has not been confirmed. A team led by Prof. Yingbin Li from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, China found that doxycycline-induced neural stem cells in the subventricular zone of c-myc+/SV40Tag+/Tet-on+ transgenic mice have increased proliferative activity and inhibitory differentiation similar to tumor stem cells, suggesting that neural stem cells have a tendency for malignant transformation, and could be a source of tumor stem cells. These findings were published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 25, 2013).
Source-Eurekalert