Identification of a Druggable Pathway Controlling Glioblastoma Invasiveness

Diffuse and uncontrollable brain invasion is a hallmark of glioblastoma (GBM), but its mechanism is understood poorly. We developed a 3D ex vivo organotypic model to study GBM invasion. We demonstrate that invading GBM cells upregulate a network of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, including multiple collagens, whose expression correlates strongly with grade and clinical outcome. We identify interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) as a transcriptional repressor of ECM factors and show that IRF3 acts as a suppressor of GBM invasion. Therapeutic activation of IRF3 by inhibiting casein kinase 2 (CK2)-a negative regulator of IRF3-downregulated the expression of ECM factors and suppressed GBM invasion in ex vivo and in vivo models across a panel of patient-derived GBM cell lines representative of the main molecular GBM subtypes. Our data provide mechanistic insight into the invasive capacity of GBM tumors and identify a potential therapy to inhibit GBM invasion.