The effects of the g-quadruplex ligand telomestatin to human brain tumor stem cell survival and growth

摘要: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the leading cause of death among primary brain tumors in adults and the current therapies have only palliative effect on prognosis of patients. Recently, stem cell-like cells in GBM (brain tumor stem-like cells; BTSC) have gained substantial attention as a potential therapeutic target. Hallmarks of BTSC include their self-renewal capacity and highly migratory potential. In this study, we demonstrate that treatment of patient-derived BTSC with a G-quadruplex ligand, telomestatin (TMS), inhibits BTSC self-renewal and maintenance of their stem cell state, and induces their apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, both normal precursors and non-stem tumor cells from the matched samples are relatively resistant to TMS treatment. Treatment with a lower dose of TMS specifically inhibits BTSC migration into normal brain. Immunofluorescence in situ hybridization with TMS-treated GBM …