A free-radical scavenger protects the neural progenitor cells in the dentate subgranular zone of the hippocampus from cell death after X-irradiation.

It has been elucidated that cognitive dysfunction following cranial radiotherapy might be linked to the oxidative stress-induced impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis that is mediated by proliferating neural stem or progenitor cells. The novel free-radical scavenger edaravone (3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one) has been clinically used to reduce neuronal damage following ischemic stroke. Previously, we reported that the free-radical scavenger, edaravone, which is currently used to treat patients with brain ischemia, protected cultured human neural stem cells (NSCs) from radiation-induced cell death; the protective effect was observed more significantly in NSCs than in brain tumor cells.

Induction of oligodendrogenesis in glioblastoma-initiating cells by IFN-mediated activation of STAT3 signaling.

The response of cancer patients to interferon (IFN) treatment is long-lasting, indicating that IFN may act on small cancer stem cell populations. Glioma-initiating cells (GICs) can self-renew and induce the formation of heterogeneously differentiated tumor cells and are resistant to chemotherapeutic agents like temozolomide. In this study, we showed that via STAT3 signaling, IFN-beta suppressed the proliferation, self-renewal, and tumorigenesis of GICs, induced their terminal differentiation to mature oligodendroglia-like cells, and exhibited synergistic cytotoxicity with temozolomide.