Glioblastoma Multiforme: A Look Inside Its Heterogeneous Nature
Open Access
- 27 January 2014
- Vol. 6 (1), 226-239
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers6010226
Abstract
Heterogeneity is a hallmark of tumors and has a crucial role in the outcome of the malignancy, because it not only confounds diagnosis, but also challenges the design of effective therapies. There are two types of heterogeneity: inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity. While inter-tumor heterogeneity has been studied widely, intra-tumor heterogeneity has been neglected even though numerous studies support this aspect of tumor pathobiology. The main reason has been the technical difficulties, but with new advances in single-cell technology, intra-tumor heterogeneity is becoming a key area in the study of cancer. Several models try to explain the origin and maintenance of intra-tumor heterogeneity, however, one prominent model compares cancer with a tree where the ubiquitous mutations compose the trunk and mutations present in subpopulations of cells are represented by the branches. In this review we will focus on the intra-tumor heterogeneity of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common brain tumor in adults that is characterized by a marked heterogeneity at the cellular and molecular levels. Better understanding of this heterogeneity will be essential to design effective therapies against this devastating disease to avoid tumor escape.Keywords
This publication has 55 references indexed in Scilit:
- Intratumor heterogeneity in human glioblastoma reflects cancer evolutionary dynamicsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013
- The Life History of 21 Breast CancersCell, 2012
- Intratumor Heterogeneity and Branched Evolution Revealed by Multiregion SequencingThe New England Journal of Medicine, 2012
- Intratumoral heterogeneity of receptor tyrosine kinases EGFR and PDGFRA amplification in glioblastoma defines subpopulations with distinct growth factor responseProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012
- TGF-β Receptor Inhibitors Target the CD44high/Id1high Glioma-Initiating Cell Population in Human GlioblastomaCancer Cell, 2010
- Phenotypic Heterogeneity among Tumorigenic Melanoma Cells from Patients that Is Reversible and Not Hierarchically OrganizedCancer Cell, 2010
- Integrated Genomic Analysis Identifies Clinically Relevant Subtypes of Glioblastoma Characterized by Abnormalities in PDGFRA, IDH1, EGFR, and NF1Cancer Cell, 2010
- Tumor heterogeneity: Causes and consequencesBiochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer, 2009
- Non-genetic origins of cell-to-cell variability in TRAIL-induced apoptosisNature, 2009
- Comprehensive genomic characterization defines human glioblastoma genes and core pathwaysNature, 2008