AUTHOR=Khan Imran , Mahfooz Sadaf , Karacam Busra , Elbasan Elif Burce , Akdur Kerime , Karimi Hasiba , Sakarcan Ayten , Hatiboglu Mustafa Aziz 

TITLE=Glioma cancer stem cells modulating the local tumor immune environment

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2022.1029657

DOI=10.3389/fnmol.2022.1029657

ISSN=1662-5099

ABSTRACT=Glioma stem cells (GSCs) drive the resistance mechanism in glioma tumors and mediate the suppression of innate and adaptive immune responses. Here we investigate the expression of mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-Met) and Fas receptor in GSCs and their role in potentiating the tumor-mediated immune suppression through modulation of tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) population. Tumor tissues were collected from 4 patients who underwent surgery for glioblastoma. GSCs were cultured as neurospheres and evaluated for the co-expression of CD133, c-Met and FasL through flow cytometry. TILs were isolated and evaluated for the lymphocyte subset frequencies including CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, regulatory T cells (FOXP3+CD25) and microglia (CD11b+CD45) using flow cytometry. Our findings revealed that a significant population of GSCs in all 4 samples expressed c-Met (89%-99%) and FasL (73%-97%). A significantly low microglia population was found in local immune cells ranging from 3%-5%. We did not find a statistically significant correlation between expressions of c-Met+ GSC and FasL+ GSC with local and systemic immune cells. This may be regarded to the small sample size. The percent c-Met+ and FasL+ GSC population appeared to be related to percent cytotoxic T cells, regulatory T cells and microglia populations in glioblastoma patients. Further investigation is warranted in a larger sample size.