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Published on: February 24, 2021
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Genetically Driven Early Tumor Seedings in Extraneural Metastasis of
Seisaku Kanayama1, Kentaro Watanabe2, Minoru Tanaka1
1Division of Innovative Cancer Therapy and Department of Surgical Neuro-Oncology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
Genetic and cell biological analyses of this rare glioblastoma (GBM) case with rapidly progressive pleural metastasis revealed essential roles of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and glioma stem-like cells (GSCs) in extraneural metastasis. Contrary to the common prediction, the metastatic lesion shared 73% of mutations and two fusion genes with the primary but not the recurrent tumor, indicating that extraneural metastasis occurs early in GBM progression. Functional assays using primary tumor-derived GSCs confirmed EMT-enhanced migratory behaviors. EMT and genetically driven early tumor seedings are crucial for extraneural GBM metastasis, emphasizing the need for further investigation into EMT pathways and GSC biology.
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