Title
Leukemia-Associated Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor and Ras Homolog Family Member C Play a Role in Glioblastoma Cell Invasion and Resistance
Publication Date
2020
Journal Title
Am J Pathol
Abstract
© 2020 American Society for Investigative Pathology Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary malignant brain cancer in adults. A hallmark of GBM is aggressive invasion of tumor cells into the surrounding normal brain. Both the current standard of care and targeted therapies have largely failed to specifically address this issue. Therefore, identifying key regulators of GBM cell migration and invasion is important. The leukemia-associated Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor (LARG) has previously been implicated in cell invasion in other tumor types; however, its role in GBM pathobiology remains undefined. Herein, we report that the expression levels of LARG and ras homolog family members C (RhoC), and A (RhoA) increase with glial tumor grade and are highest in GBM. LARG and RhoC protein expression is more prominent in invading cells, whereas RhoA expression is largely restricted to cells in the tumor core. Knockdown of LARG by siRNA inhibits GBM cell migration in vitro and invasion ex vivo in organotypic brain slices. Moreover, siRNA-mediated silencing of RhoC suppresses GBM cell migration in vitro and invasion ex vivo, whereas depletion of RhoA enhances GBM cell migration and invasion, supporting a role for LARG and RhoC in GBM cell migration and invasion. Depletion of LARG increases the sensitivity of GBM cells to temozolomide treatment. Collectively, these results suggest that LARG and RhoC may represent unappreciated targets to inhibit glioma invasion.
Volume Number
190
Issue Number
10
Pages
2165 - 2176
Document Type
Article
Status
Faculty
Facility
School of Medicine
Primary Department
Molecular Medicine
Additional Departments
Neurosurgery; Radiation Medicine
PMID
DOI
10.1016/j.ajpath.2020.07.005