 |
The Journal of Neuroscience, June 21, 2006, 26(25):6781-6790; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0514-06.2006
Previous Article | Next Article 
Neurobiology of Disease
Glial Progenitors in Adult White Matter Are Driven to Form Malignant Gliomas by Platelet-Derived Growth Factor-Expressing Retroviruses
Marcela Assanah,1
Richard Lochhead,2
Alfred Ogden,2
Jeffrey Bruce,2
James Goldman,1,3 and
Peter Canoll1
Departments of 1Pathology and 2Neurological Surgery, and 3Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Peter Canoll, Department of Pathology, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032. Email: pc561{at}columbia.edu
To test the gliomagenic potential of adult glial progenitors, we infected adult rat white matter with a retrovirus that expresses high levels of PDGF and green fluorescent protein (GFP). Tumors that closely resembled human glioblastomas formed in 100% of the animals by 14 d postinfection. Surprisingly, the tumors were composed of a heterogeneous population of cells, <20% of which expressed the retroviral reporter gene (GFP). The vast majority of both GFP+ and GFP tumor cells expressed markers of glial progenitors. Thus, the tumors arose from the massive expansion of both infected and uninfected glial progenitors, suggesting that PDGF was driving tumor formation via autocrine and paracrine stimulation of glial progenitor cells. To explore this possibility further, we coinjected a retrovirus expressing PDGF-IRES-DsRed with a control retrovirus expressing only GFP. The resulting tumors contained a mixture of red cells (PDGF-expressing/tumor-initiating cells) and green cells (recruited progenitors). Both populations were highly proliferative and infiltrative. In contrast, when the control GFP retrovirus was injected alone, the animals never formed tumors and the majority of infected cells differentiated along the oligodendrocyte lineage. Together, these results reveal that adult white matter progenitors not only have the capacity to give rise to gliomas, but resident progenitors are recruited to proliferate within the mitogenic environment of the tumor and in this way contribute significantly to the heterogeneous mass of cells that compose a malignant glioma.
Key words: platelet-derived growth factor; tumor environment; oligodendrocyte; glioblastoma multiforme; animal model; tumor clonality
Received Feb. 3, 2006;
revised May 8, 2006;
accepted May 13, 2006.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Peter Canoll, Department of Pathology, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032. Email: pc561{at}columbia.edu
Related articles in J. Neurosci.:
- This Week in The Journal
J. Neurosci. 2006 26: i.
[Full Text]
This article has been cited by other articles:

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. M. Wiesner, S. A. Decker, J. D. Larson, K. Ericson, C. Forster, J. L. Gallardo, C. Long, Z. L. Demorest, E. A. Zamora, W. C. Low, et al.
De novo Induction of Genetically Engineered Brain Tumors in Mice Using Plasmid DNA
Cancer Res.,
January 15, 2009;
69(2):
431 - 439.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
Y. Hitoshi, B. T. Harris, H. Liu, B. Popko, and M. A. Israel
Spinal Glioma: Platelet-Derived Growth Factor B-Mediated Oncogenesis in the Spinal Cord
Cancer Res.,
October 15, 2008;
68(20):
8507 - 8515.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
B. A. Emmenegger and R. J. Wechsler-Reya
Stem Cells and the Origin and Propagation of Brain Tumors
J Child Neurol,
October 1, 2008;
23(10):
1172 - 1178.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
C. Beadle, M. C. Assanah, P. Monzo, R. Vallee, S. S. Rosenfeld, and P. Canoll
The Role of Myosin II in Glioma Invasion of the Brain
Mol. Biol. Cell,
August 1, 2008;
19(8):
3357 - 3368.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
P. Y. Wen and S. Kesari
Malignant Gliomas in Adults
N. Engl. J. Med.,
July 31, 2008;
359(5):
492 - 507.
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. Ivkovic, P. Canoll, and J. E. Goldman
Constitutive EGFR Signaling in Oligodendrocyte Progenitors Leads to Diffuse Hyperplasia in Postnatal White Matter
J. Neurosci.,
January 23, 2008;
28(4):
914 - 922.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
D. B. Hoelzinger, T. Demuth, and M. E. Berens
Autocrine Factors That Sustain Glioma Invasion and Paracrine Biology in the Brain Microenvironment
J Natl Cancer Inst,
November 7, 2007;
99(21):
1583 - 1593.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|
|

|