Primitive Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells Are Highly Susceptible to Gliomagenic Transformation

Glioblastoma is the most deadly and common primary tumor of the central nervous system. Heterogeneity in the disease causes complications from diagnosis to treatment. It has long been suggested that a stem cell and/or progenitor population may be the origin of this disease and provide the underlying heterogeneity. However, which population precisely is the cell of origin, or whether there is only one cell of origin, has remained elusive. Previous studies have shown that, with proper combinations of oncogene expression and tumor suppressor loss, three cell types have the potential to transform into glioma-neural stem cells (NSC), oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC), and astrocytes. In a newly published article in Cancer Research, Verma and colleagues make a convincing argument through elegant animal work that an intermediate progenitor cell population, primitive OPCs, has higher tumorigenic potential than the NSCs or OPCs. This study helps rectify the controversy around which cell populations are the most sensitive to transformation in gliomagenesis. See related article by Verma et al., p. 890.