Asymmetric Distribution of GFAP in Glioma Multipotent Cells

PLoS One. 2016 Mar 8;11(3):e0151274. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151274. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Asymmetric division (AD) is a fundamental mechanism whereby unequal inheritance of various cellular compounds during mitosis generates unequal fate in the two daughter cells. Unequal repartitions of transcription factors, receptors as well as mRNA have been abundantly described in AD. In contrast, the involvement of intermediate filaments in this process is still largely unknown. AD occurs in stem cells during development but was also recently observed in cancer stem cells. Here, we demonstrate the asymmetric distribution of the main astrocytic intermediate filament, namely the glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP), in mitotic glioma multipotent cells isolated from glioblastoma (GBM), the most frequent type of brain tumor. Unequal mitotic repartition of GFAP was also observed in mice non-tumoral neural stem cells indicating that this process occurs across species and is not restricted to cancerous cells. Immunofluorescence and videomicroscopy were used to capture these rare and transient events. Considering the role of intermediate filaments in cytoplasm organization and cell signaling, we propose that asymmetric distribution of GFAP could possibly participate in the regulation of normal and cancerous neural stem cell fate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Asymmetric Cell Division*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Gene Expression
  • Genes, Reporter
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / genetics
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / metabolism*
  • Glioma / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mitosis
  • Multipotent Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Neural Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Protein Transport

Substances

  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the “Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer” (ARC, France), the “Association pour la Recherche contre les Tumeurs Cérébrales” (ARTC Sud, France) and “l’Institut National pour la Recherche sur le Cancer” (INCA, France).