title: Fos-related antigen 1 modulates malignant features of glioma cells.
abstract: Malignant gliomas, and high-grade gliomas (HGG) in particular, are nonmetastasizing but locally infiltrating, hypervascularized brain tumors of poor prognosis. We found previously that a c-fos-inducible vascular endothelial growth factor D is ubiquitously up-regulated in HGG grade IV, glioblastoma multiforme, and that glioblastoma multiforme overexpress Fos-related antigen 1 (Fra-1) rather than the c-Fos. We have thus become interested in the role Fra-1 may play in malignant glioma progression/maintenance, because Fra-1 has the capacity to modulate transcription of a variety of target genes. In this work, we have analyzed the biological effects of ectopic Fra-1 expression or Fra-1 knockdown in malignant glioma cells. Ectopic Fra-1 induced prominent phenotypic changes in all three malignant glioma cell lines examined: H4, U-87 MG, and A-172 MG. These changes were reflected in cells becoming more elongated with larger number of cellular processes. Furthermore, Fra-1 transgene caused H4 cells, which do not form tumor xenografts, to regain tumorigenic capacity. The genotype of these cells changed too, because 50 of 1,056 genes examined became either up-regulated or down-regulated. Conversely, Fra-1 knockdown altered prominently the morphology, anchorage-independent growth, tumorigenic potential, and Fra-1 effector expression, such as vascular endothelial growth factor D, in HGG cells. For example, cells transfected with antisense fra-1 showed shorter cellular processes than the control cells that did not grow in agar, and their tumorigenic potential was significantly diminished. Thus, Fra-1 may likely play an important role in the maintenance/progression of malignant gliomas and potentially represents a new target for therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Brain Tumor Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosurgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. debinski@wfubmc.edu
authors.forename: Waldemar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Debinski
authors.forename: Denise M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Gibo
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D020868:Gene Silencing; D005838:Genotype; D005910:Glioma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D010641:Phenotype; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D019076:Transgenes; D000099169:Fos-Related Antigen 1
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1; D000099169:Fos-Related Antigen 1