The Network of Tumor Microtubes: An Improperly Reactivated Neural Cell Network With Stemness Feature for Resistance and Recurrence in Gliomas

Frontiers in Oncology

Haitao Sun²  Xinyue Wang³  Jianhao Liang³ 

[1] Clinical Biobank Center, Microbiome Medicine Center, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China;Key Laboratory of Mental Health of the Ministry of Education, Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area Center for Brain Science and Brain–Inspired Intelligence, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China;Neurosurgery Center, The National Key Clinical Specialty, The Engineering Technology Research Center of Education Ministry of China on Diagnosis and Treatment of Cerebrovascular Disease, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory on Brain Function Repair and Regeneration, The Neurosurgery Institute of Guangdong Province, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China;

关键词: glioma;    tumor microtubes;    tunneling nanotubes;    cancer stem cells;    resistance;    heterogeneity;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fonc.2022.921975

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Gliomas are known as an incurable brain tumor for the poor prognosis and robust recurrence. In recent years, a cellular subpopulation with tumor microtubes (TMs) was identified in brain tumors, which may provide a new angle to explain the invasion, resistance, recurrence, and heterogeneity of gliomas. Recently, it was demonstrated that the cell subpopulation also expresses neural stem cell markers and shares a lot of features with both immature neurons and cancer stem cells and may be seen as an improperly reactivated neural cell network with a stemness feature at later time points of life. TMs may also provide a new angle to understand the resistance and recurrence mechanisms of glioma stem cells. In this review, we innovatively focus on the common features between TMs and sprouting axons in morphology, formation, and function. Additionally, we summarized the recent progress in the resistance and recurrence mechanisms of gliomas with TMs and explained the incurability and heterogeneity in gliomas with TMs. Moreover, we discussed the recently discovered overlap between cancer stem cells and TM-positive glioma cells, which may contribute to the understanding of resistant glioma cell subpopulation and the exploration of the new potential therapeutic target for gliomas.

【 授权许可】

Unknown