RIPK1 in Diffuse Glioma Pathology: From Prognosis Marker to Potential Therapeutic Target

Diffuse gliomas (DGs) are malignant primary brain tumors originating from glial cells. This study aimed to investigate the role of Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) in DG pathology. The RIPK1 mRNA expression was analyzed in DG databases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) containing clinical, genomic, and transcriptomic information from 670 patients. Transcriptomic studies were carried out using USC Xena and R, while in vitro assays were performed with the glioblastoma human cell line U251 and the commercial RIPK1 inhibitor GSK2982772. The results showed that high RIPK1 expression was linked to a lower survival probability in patients. Additionally, the RIPK1 expression was higher in the wtIDH samples compared to that in the mIDH samples. Significant differences in the expression of genes related to cellular dedifferentiation, proinflammatory cell death pathways, and tumor-infiltrating immune cells were found between high- and low-RIPK1 expression groups. To further characterize the role of RIPK1 in DG, the effects of the RIPK1 inhibitor were evaluated, alone or combined with cisplatin, on glioblastoma cell proliferation and apoptosis. The combined treatments effectively reduced cell proliferation and increased apoptosis. The overexpression of RIPK1 was associated with a poor prognosis for DG, suggesting that RIPK1 plays a critical role in glioma pathogenesis and should be considered in therapeutic decision-making.