Abstract 2525: Sema3C promotes glioma stem cell survival and radioresistance

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Different cancer cell compartments often communicate through soluble factors to facilitate tumor growth. Glioma stem cells (GSCs) are a subset of tumor cells that resist standard therapy to contribute to disease progression. How GSCs employ a distinct secretory program to communicate with and nurture each other over the non-stem tumor cell (NSTC) population is not well defined. Methods/Materials: GSCs were enriched from patient specimens and functionally validated. We used a candidate approach to screen for secreted factors that were preferentially used by GSCs but not NSTCs. Expression was assessed by Western blot, and confirmed by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence in vitro and in human and mouse GBM tissues. Ligand-receptor interactions were confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. Rac activity was assessed by Rac-GTP pulldown. Co-culture epistasis experiments were performed using knockdown and recombinant protein approaches. Glioma stem cell marker analysis (CD133, Sox2, Olig2), cell viability (ATP-dependent assays), apoptosis (TUNEL, PI/AnnexinV, cleaved caspase 3/7), self-renewal (tumorsphere formation and limiting dilution assay) and invasion (transwell migration assay) were performed. GSCs were separated in PlexinD1 hi and lo populations by FACS. Radiation (3 Gy) was delivered by Cs-137 irradiator. GSCs were used to establish orthotopic xenograft models of glioblastoma and tumor growth and animal survival were assessed. Results: We have found that GSCs preferentially secrete Sema3C and coordinately express PlexinA2/D1 receptors to activate Rac1/NF-κB signaling in an autocrine and paracrine loop to promote their own survival. Importantly, Sema3C is not expressed in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) or NSTCs. Disruption of Sema3C induced apoptosis of GSCs, but not NPCs or NSTCs, and suppressed tumor growth in orthotopic models of glioblastoma. Introduction of activated Rac1 rescued the Sema3C knockdown phenotype in vivo. Furthermore, GSCs that expressed high levels of Plexin receptors were more resistant to radiation, and Sema3C and Plexin receptors were upregulated after irradiation. Together, these data support that Sema3C signaling contributes to radiation resistance. Conclusions: Our study supports targeting Sema3C to break this GSC-specific autocrine/paracrine loop to improve glioblastoma treatment, potentially with a high therapeutic index. Citation Format: Jianghong Man, Jocelyn Shoemake, Qiulian Wu, Jennifer Yu. Sema3C promotes glioma stem cell survival and radioresistance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2525.