title: Digital transcriptome profiling of normal and glioblastoma-derived neural stem cells identifies genes associated with patient survival.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of primary brain tumor in adults, is driven by cells with neural stem (NS) cell characteristics. Using derivation methods developed for NS cells, it is possible to expand tumorigenic stem cells continuously in vitro. Although these glioblastoma-derived neural stem (GNS) cells are highly similar to normal NS cells, they harbor mutations typical of gliomas and initiate authentic tumors following orthotopic xenotransplantation. Here, we analyzed GNS and NS cell transcriptomes to identify gene expression alterations underlying the disease phenotype.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sensitive measurements of gene expression were obtained by high-throughput sequencing of transcript tags (Tag-seq) on adherent GNS cell lines from three glioblastoma cases and two normal NS cell lines. Validation by quantitative real-time PCR was performed on 82 differentially expressed genes across a panel of 16 GNS and 6 NS cell lines. The molecular basis and prognostic relevance of expression differences were investigated by genetic characterization of GNS cells and comparison with public data for 867 glioma biopsies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Transcriptome analysis revealed major differences correlated with glioma histological grade, and identified misregulated genes of known significance in glioblastoma as well as novel candidates, including genes associated with other malignancies or glioma-related pathways. This analysis further detected several long non-coding RNAs with expression profiles similar to neighboring genes implicated in cancer. Quantitative PCR validation showed excellent agreement with Tag-seq data (median Pearson r = 0.91) and discerned a gene set robustly distinguishing GNS from NS cells across the 22 lines. These expression alterations include oncogene and tumor suppressor changes not detected by microarray profiling of tumor tissue samples, and facilitated the identification of a GNS expression signature strongly associated with patient survival (P = 1e-6, Cox model).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results support the utility of GNS cell cultures as a model system for studying the molecular processes driving glioblastoma and the use of NS cells as reference controls. The association between a GNS expression signature and survival is consistent with the hypothesis that a cancer stem cell component drives tumor growth. We anticipate that analysis of normal and malignant stem cells will be an important complement to large-scale profiling of primary tumors.
authors.affiliation: EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
authors.forename: Pär G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Engström
authors.affiliation: EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
authors.forename: Diva
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tommei
authors.affiliation: Samantha Dickson Brain Cancer Unit and Department of Cancer Biology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, Paul O'Gorman Building, 72 Huntley Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Stefan H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Stricker
authors.affiliation: Samantha Dickson Brain Cancer Unit and Department of Cancer Biology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, Paul O'Gorman Building, 72 Huntley Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ender
authors.affiliation: Samantha Dickson Brain Cancer Unit and Department of Cancer Biology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, Paul O'Gorman Building, 72 Huntley Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.affiliation: EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK ; Genome Biology and Developmental Biology Units, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany ; Wellcome Trust - Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bertone