Initial characterization of drug resistant cancer stem cells isolated from primary brain tumors (astrocytoma) cell lines generated from Saudi patients

Abstract

Background The Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) hypothesis proposes that malignant brain tumours are organized into aberrant cell hierarchies where a subset of parent CSCs replicate asymmetrically and unlimitedly to produce differentiated daughter cell [1,2]. These parent CSCs are highly adaptive and resistant to the chemotherapeutic drugs [3]. Developing new drugs that target CSCs requires a comprehensive understanding of the pharmacogenomics behavior of these cells [4,5]. Such understanding requires reliable in vitro and in vivo models that represent the beneficial patients. This project is set out to: i) Establish a collection of astrocytoma cell lines generated from Saudi patients, ii) Select drug resistant brain tumour CSCs, iii) Characterize drug resistant brain tumour CSCs individually, and iv) Deduce common features for drug resistant brain tumour CSCs.