Molecular pathogenesis of glioblastoma multiforme: Nuances, obstacles, and implications for treatment

Transferrin-Targeted Liposomes in Glioblastoma Therapy: A Review

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor, and its treatment is further complicated by the high selectivity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The scientific community is urgently seeking innovative and effective therapeutic solutions. Liposomes are a promising new tool that has shown potential in addressing the limitations of chemotherapy, such as poor bioavailability and toxicity to healthy cells. However, passive targeting strategies based solely on the physicochemical properties of liposomes have proven ineffective due to a lack of tissue specificity. Accordingly, the upregulation of transferrin receptors (TfRs) in brain tissue has led to the development of TfR-targeted anticancer therapeutics. Currently, one of the most widely adopted methods for improving drug delivery in the treatment of GBM and other neurological disorders is the utilization of active targeting strategies that specifically target this receptor. In this review, we discuss the role of Tf-conjugated liposomes in GBM therapy and present some recent studies investigating the drug delivery efficiency of Tf-liposomes; in addition, we address some challenges currently facing this approach to treatment and present some potential improvement possibilities.

From neural stem cells to glioblastoma: A natural history of GBM recapitulated in vitro

Due to its aggressive and invasive nature glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and aggressive primary brain tumour in adults, remains almost invariably lethal. Significant advances in the last several years have elucidated much of the molecular and genetic complexities of GBM. However, GBM exhibits a vast genetic variation and a wide diversity of phenotypes that have complicated the development of effective therapeutic strategies. This complex pathogenesis makes necessary the development of experimental models that could be used to further understand the disease, and also to provide a more realistic testing ground for potential therapies. In this report, we describe the process of transformation of primary mouse embryo astrocytes into immortalized cultures with neural stem cell characteristics, that are able to generate GBM when injected into the brain of C57BL/6 mice, or heterotopic tumours when injected IV. Overall, our results show that oncogenic transformation is the fate of NSC if cultured for long periods in vitro. In addition, as no additional hit is necessary to induce the oncogenic transformation, our model may be used to investigate the pathogenesis of gliomagenesis and to test the effectiveness of different drugs throughout the natural history of GBM.

If Artificial In Vitro Microenvironment Can Influence Tumor Drug Resistance Network via Modulation of lncRNA Expression?-Comparative Analysis of Glioblastoma-Derived Cell Culture Models and Initial Tumors In Vivo

The tumor resistance of glioblastoma cells in vivo is thought to be enhanced by their heterogeneity and plasticity, which are extremely difficult to curb in vitro. The external microenvironment shapes the molecular profile of tumor culture models, thus influencing potential therapy response. Our study examines the expression profile of selected lncRNAs involved in tumor resistance network in three different glioblastoma-derived models commonly utilized for testing drug response in vitro. Differential expression analysis revealed significant divergence in lncRNA profile between parental tumors and tumor-derived cell cultures in vitro, including the following particles: MALAT1, CASC2, H19, TUSC7, XIST, RP11-838N2.4, DLX6-AS1, GLIDR, MIR210HG, SOX2-OT. The examined lncRNAs influence the phenomenon of tumor resistance via their downstream target genes through a variety of processes: multi-drug resistance, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, autophagy, cell proliferation and viability, and DNA repair. A comparison of in vivo and in vitro expression identified differences in the levels of potential lncRNA targets, with the highest discrepancies detected for the MDR1, LRP1, BCRP and MRP1 genes. Co-expression analyses confirmed the following interrelations: MALAT1-TYMS, MALAT1-MRP5, H19-ZEB1, CASC2-VIM, CASC2-N-CAD; they additionally suggest the possibility of MALAT1-BCRP, MALAT1-mTOR and TUSC7-PTEN interconnections in glioblastoma. Although our results clearly demonstrate that the artificial ex vivo microenvironment changes the profile of lncRNAs related to tumor resistance, it is difficult to anticipate the final phenotypic effect, since this phenomenon is a complex one that involves a network of molecular interactions underlying a variety of cellular processes.