Glioblastoma is the most common form of malignant brain tumors and has a poor prognosis. Glioma stem cells (GSCs) are thought to be responsible for the aberrant proliferation and invasion. Targeting the signaling pathways that promote proliferation in GSCs is one of the strategies for glioma treatment. In this study, we found increased expression of contactin 2 (CNTN2) and amyloid β precursor p...

Paeoniflorin is one of the active ingredients of the commonly used herbal medicine derived from Paeonia, which exhibits anticancer properties. MicroRNA-16 (miR-16) is upregulated in CD133(-) cells, but downregulated in CD133(+) cells from glioma tissue. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression in glioma tissue samples is significantly higher than that in healthy brain tissue samples. There...

Versican is highly expressed in many types of tumors. In a previous study, we found that a G3 mutant [G3DeltaEGF; a versican G3 domain lacking two epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like motifs] exerted a dominant-negative effect on versican secretion and binding. Here, we report that astrocytoma U87 cells expressing the versican G3 mutant lost the hallmark of cell transformation and tumorigenesis i...

Future breakthroughs in cancer therapy must accompany targeted agents that will neutralize cancer stem cells response to circulating growth factors. Since the brain tissue microenvironmental niche is a prerequisite for expression of the stem cell marker CD133 antigen in brain tumors, we investigated the invasion mechanisms specific to CD133(+) U87 glioblastoma cells in response to lysophosphati...

The ability of interleukin-4 (IL-4) to mediate an antitumor response to human gliomas was studied in vivo in nude mice. To allow the effect of IL-4 to be exerted over a relatively short distance and at an optimal concen tration, a transfected tumor cell line expressing a high level of IL-4 was used in mixed tumor transplantation assays. There was a significant in hibition of growth of the U87 h...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of temozolomide (TZM) in combination with X-rays on proliferation and migration in human glioma spheroids. Multicellular spheroids were derived from GaMg and U87 cell lines. Spheroids were treated with various concentrations of TZM (5 micromol, 0.025 mmol, 0.05 mmol) and irradiation (RT). Proliferation and migration assays were performed. For ...

Active Ras contributes to the malignant phenotype of glioblastoma multiforme. Recent studies showed that the Ras inhibitor farnesyl thiosalicylic acid downregulates the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha, causing shutdown of glycolysis in U87 glioblastoma cells. Farnesyl thiosalicylic acid also inhibited the growth of U87 cells. The way in which Ras inhibition affects U87 cell...

Patients with actively replicating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) exhibit adverse reactions even to low irradiation doses. High levels of the virus-encoded viral protein R (Vpr) are believed to be one of the major underlying causes for increased radiosensitivity. As Vpr efficiently crosses the blood-brain barrier and accumulates in astrocytes, we examined its efficacy as a drug for treatmen...

Radiotherapy is the main locoregional control modality for a number of types of malignant tumors, including glioblastoma. However, radiotherapy fails to prevent recurrence in numerous patients due to the intrinsic radioresistance of cancer cells. Cell senescence is significant in tumor suppressor mechanisms and is closely associated with the radioresistance of cancer cells. Bmi-1 has been propo...