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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Imaging Glioma Initiation In Vivo Through a Polished and Reinforced Thin-skull Cranial Window
Published on: November 20, 2012
Snail regulates BMP and TGFβ pathways to control the differentiation status of glioma-initiating cells
Laia Caja1,2, Kalliopi Tzavlaki3,4, Mahsa S Dadras3,4
1Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Science for Life Laboratory, Box 582, Biomedical Center, Uppsala University, SE-75123, Uppsala, Sweden. laja.caja@imbim.uu.se.
Abstract:
Glioblastoma multiforme is a brain malignancy characterized by high heterogeneity, invasiveness, and resistance to current therapies, attributes related to the occurrence of glioma stem cells (GSCs). Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) promotes self-renewal and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) induces differentiation of GSCs. BMP7 induces the transcription factor Snail to promote astrocytic differentiation in GSCs and suppress tumor growth in vivo. We demonstrate that Snail represses stemness in GSCs. Snail interacts with SMAD signaling mediators, generates a positive feedback loop of BMP signaling and transcriptionally represses the TGFB1 gene, decreasing TGFβ1 signaling activity. Exogenous TGFβ1 counteracts Snail function in vitro, and in vivo promotes proliferation and re-expression of Nestin, confirming the importance of TGFB1 gene repression by Snail. In conclusion, novel insight highlights mechanisms whereby Snail differentially regulates the activity of the opposing BMP and TGFβ pathways, thus promoting an astrocytic fate switch and repressing stemness in GSCs.
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