Study on the proliferation and drug-resistance of human brain tumor stem-like cells

Brain tumor stem-like cells (BTSLCs) have been implied to play an important role in genesis and development of glioma. However, their characteristics on proliferation and drug-resistance are uncertain thoroughly. In this experiment, some of the biological characteristics about BTSLCs were explored. Twenty cases of different grades of human glioma tissues were obtained from clinic. The primary glioma cells were collected and CD133(+) cells from them were purified by magnetic cell sorting assay. The BTSLCs were identified by testing the expression of CD133, Nestin, NSE, and GFAP, along with the culture process. WST-8 assay kit was used to evaluate the proliferating situation of CD133(+) cells in the different grade gliomas, and to compare the drug-resistance between the CD133(+) and CD133( - ) cells in the medium containing different concentrations of teniposide (VM-26). The results showed that the CD133(+) cells could regenerate by self-renewal, then generate and different into NSE(+) and GFAP(+) cells, respectively. CD133(+) cells in the high grade of gliomas showed the faster generation than the ones in the low grade. The number of survived CD133(+) cells in the medium containing VM-26 was much more than the CD133(-) ones in it. Therefore, it was implied that the CD133(+) BTSLCs existed in the glioma tissues possessed the more tolerant ability to the VM-26, and could proliferate much more easily in the high-grade glioma.