Increased in vivo angiogenic effect of glioma stromal mesenchymal stem-like cells on glioma cancer stem cells from patients with glioblastoma.

The presence of glioma stromal mesenchymal stem‑like cells (GS-MSLCs) in tumors from glioma patients has been previously reported. The mechanisms through which these cells function as a part of the glioma microenvironment, however, remain incompletely understood. We investigated the biological effects of GS-MSLCs on glioma cancer stem cells (gCSCs), testing the hypothesis that GS-MSLCs alter the biological characteristics of gCSCs.

Presence of glioma stroma mesenchymal stem cells in a murine orthotopic glioma model.

Purpose: High-grade gliomas are closely related to the mesenchymal phenotype which might be explained by unorthodox differentiation of glioma cancer stem cells (gCSCs). We reasoned that other non-neural stem cells, especially mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), might play a role in expressing mesenchymal phenotype of high-grade gliomas. Thus we hypothesized that cells resembling MSCs exist in glioma specimens.