M2 receptor activation inhibits cell cycle progression and survival in human glioblastoma cells.

Muscarinic receptors, expressed in several primary and metastatic tumours, appear to be implicated in their growth and propagation. In this work we have demonstrated that M2 muscarinic receptors are expressed in glioblastoma human specimens and in glioblastoma cell lines. Moreover, we have characterized the effects of the M2 agonist arecaidine on cell growth and survival both in two different glioblastoma cell lines (U251MG and U87MG) and in primary cultures obtained from different human biopsies.

Sensitivity to cisplatin in primary cell lines derived from human glioma correlates with levels of EGR-1 expression.

Background: Less than 30% of malignant gliomas respond to adjuvant chemotherapy. Here, we have asked whether variations in the constitutive expression of early-growth response factor 1 (EGR-1) predicted acute cytotoxicity and clonogenic cell death in vitro, induced by six different chemotherapics.

Materials And Methods: Cytotoxicity assays were performed on cells derived from fresh tumor explants of 18 human cases of malignant glioma.