DMRTA2 supports glioma stem-cell mediated neovascularization in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and lethal brain tumor in adults. Due to its fast proliferation, diffusive growth and therapy resistance survival times are less than two years for patients with IDH-wildtype GBM. GBM is noted for the considerable cellular heterogeneity, high stemness indices and abundance of the glioma stem-like cells known to support tumor progression, therapeutic resistance and recurrence. Doublesex- and mab-3-related transcription factor a2 (DMRTA2) is involved in maintaining neural progenitor cells (NPC) in the cell cycle and its overexpression suppresses NPC differentiation. Despite the reports showing that primary GBM originates from transformed neural stem/progenitors cells, the role of DMRTA2 in gliomagenesis has not been elucidated so far. Here we show the upregulation of DMRTA2 expression in malignant gliomas. Immunohistochemical staining showed the protein concentrated in small cells with high proliferative potential and cells localized around blood vessels, where it colocalizes with pericyte-specific markers. Knock-down of DMRTA2 in human glioma cells impairs proliferation but not viability of the cells, and affects the formation of the tumor spheres, as evidenced by strong decrease in the number and size of spheres in in vitro cultures. Moreover, the knockdown of DMRTA2 in glioma spheres affects the stabilization of the glioma stem-like cell-dependent tube formation in an in vitro angiogenesis assay. We conclude that DMRTA2 is a new player in gliomagenesis and tumor neovascularization and due to its high expression in malignant gliomas could be a biomarker and potential target for new therapeutic strategies in glioblastoma.