The origins of gliomas are not well understood. Here, oncogenic lentiviral vectors targeting the genes that encode tumour protein 53 (also known as p53) and neurofibromatosis type 1 (which are often mutated in gliomas) were used to transduce stem cells, astrocytes and mature neurons in mouse brains. Transduced cells from all cell populations — not just stem cells, as might have been expected — produced malignant gliomas with high expression of stem cell markers and low expression of markers of differentiated cells. Thus, gliomas can arise by dedifferentiation of mature neurons and astrocytes.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Friedmann-Morvinski, D. et al. Dedifferentiation of neurons and astrocytes by oncogenes can induce gliomas in mice. Science 18 Oct 2012 (doi:10.1126/science.1226929)
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Jones, R. Neurons and astrocytes can make gliomas. Nat Rev Neurosci 13, 812 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3387
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3387