A reference collection of patient-derived cell line and xenograft models of proneural, classical and mesenchymal glioblastoma

Low-passage, serum-free cell lines cultured from patient tumour tissue are the gold-standard for preclinical studies and cellular investigations of glioblastoma (GBM) biology, yet entrenched, poorly-representative cell line models are still widely used, compromising the significance of much GBM research. We submit that greater adoption of these critical resources will be promoted by the provision of a suitably-sized, meaningfully-described reference collection along with appropriate tools for working with them. Consequently, we present a curated panel of 12 readily-usable, genetically-diverse, tumourigenic, patient-derived, low-passage, serum-free cell lines representing the spectrum of molecular subtypes of IDH-wildtype GBM along with their detailed phenotypic characterisation plus a bespoke set of lentiviral plasmids for bioluminescent/fluorescent labelling, gene expression and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene inactivation. The cell lines and all accompanying data are readily-accessible via a single website, Q-Cell (qimrberghofer.edu.au/q-cell/) and all plasmids are available from Addgene. These resources should prove valuable to investigators seeking readily-usable, well-characterised, clinically-relevant, gold-standard models of GBM.

Nuclear factor one B (NFIB) encodes a subtype-specific tumour suppressor in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an essentially incurable and rapidly fatal cancer, with few markers predicting a favourable prognosis. Here we report that the transcription factor NFIB is associated with significantly improved survival in GBM. NFIB expression correlates inversely with astrocytoma grade and is lowest in mesenchymal GBM. Ectopic expression of NFIB in low-passage, patient-derived classical and mesenchymal subtype GBM cells inhibits tumourigenesis. Ectopic NFIB expression activated phospho-STAT3 signalling only in classical and mesenchymal GBM cells, suggesting a mechanism through which NFIB may exert its context-dependent tumour suppressor activity. Finally, NFIB expression can be induced in GBM cells by drug treatment with beneficial effects.