Drug screening study using glioma stem-like cells.

Glioma is one of the most common malignant tumors affecting the central nervous system. We screened active drugs from 12 classes to provide experimental data for the study of human glioma. Serum-free suspension clone formation was used to induce the formation of glioma stem‑like cells (GSLCs) from U251 cells. We screened active drugs from 12 classes and observed their effects on the number of tumor balls. The results revealed that serum‑free suspension clone formation successfully induced the formation of GSLCs. Six active drugs [curcumin, chrysin, apigenin, luteolin, casticin and 8-bromo-7-methoxychrysin (BrMChR)] were identified by MTT assay. The drugs that affected the number of tumor balls were curcumin, luteolin, casticin and BrMChR (all P<0.05). The GSLCs were obtained by serum‑free clone suspension formation and exhibited the features of cancer stem cells.