Astrocyte-specific expression patterns associated with the PDGF-induced glioma microenvironment Journal Article


Authors: Katz, A. M.; Amankulor, N. M.; Pitter, K.; Helmy, K.; Squatrito, M.; Holland, E. C.
Article Title: Astrocyte-specific expression patterns associated with the PDGF-induced glioma microenvironment
Abstract: Background: The tumor microenvironment contains normal, non-neoplastic cells that may contribute to tumor growth and maintenance. Within PDGF-driven murine gliomas, tumor-associated astrocytes (TAAs) are a large component of the tumor microenvironment. The function of non-neoplastic astrocytes in the glioma microenvironment has not been fully elucidated; moreover, the differences between these astrocytes and normal astrocytes are unknown. We therefore sought to identify genes and pathways that are increased in TAAs relative to normal astrocytes and also to determine whether expression of these genes correlates with glioma behavior. Methodology/Principal Findings: We compared the gene expression profiles of TAAs to normal astrocytes and found the Antigen Presentation Pathway to be significantly increased in TAAs. We then identified a gene signature for glioblastoma (GBM) TAAs and validated the expression of some of those genes within the tumor. We also show that TAAs are derived from the non-tumor, stromal environment, in contrast to the Olig2+ tumor cells that constitute the neoplastic elements in our model. Finally, we validate this GBM TAA signature in patients and show that a TAA-derived gene signature predicts survival specifically in the human proneural subtype of glioma. Conclusions/Significance: Our data identifies unique gene expression patterns between populations of TAAs and suggests potential roles for stromal astrocytes within the glioma microenvironment. We show that certain stromal astrocytes in the tumor microenvironment express a GBM-specific gene signature and that the majority of these stromal astrocyte genes can predict survival in the human disease. © 2012 Katz et al.
Keywords: immunohistochemistry; platelet derived growth factor; cancer survival; controlled study; histopathology; nonhuman; brain tumor; glioma; methodology; brain neoplasms; animal cell; mouse; animal; cytology; metabolism; animals; mice; animal tissue; gene overexpression; gene expression profiling; green fluorescent protein; glial fibrillary acidic protein; oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2; animal experiment; animal model; astrocyte; genetic association; cell population; prediction; carcinogenesis; transgenic mouse; mice, transgenic; oncogene; antigen presentation; biosynthesis; messenger rna; rna, messenger; glioblastoma; major histocompatibility antigen class 2; platelet-derived growth factor; murinae; cellular distribution; green fluorescent proteins; fluorescence microscopy; microscopy, fluorescence; down regulation; upregulation; hermes antigen; fluorescence activated cell sorting; protein determination; complementary dna; astrocytes; tumor microenvironment; antigens, cd44; tenascin; anxa2 gene; lgals3 gene; rbp1 gene
Journal Title: PLoS ONE
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
ISSN: 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science  
Date Published: 2012-01-01
Start Page: e32453
Language: English
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032453
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC3290579
PUBMED: 22393407
DOI/URL:
Notes: --- - "Export Date: 2 April 2012" - "Source: Scopus"
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MSK Authors
  1. Eric Holland
    225 Holland
  2. Ken L Pitter
    53 Pitter
  3. Karim Yussef Helmy
    13 Helmy
  4. Amanda M Katz
    4 Katz