Emergence of the cell-matrix adhesion element ILK as a player in glioblastoma cell plasticity.

Glioblastoma cells exhibit remarkable plasticity, enabling them to adapt to environmental cues and transition through various developmental-like states with distinct properties. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Loftus et al. identify ILK as an intrinsic regulator of glioblastoma cell transitions between progenitor-like and mesenchymal/astrocyte-like states.

CELF2 Sustains a Proliferating/OLIG2+ Glioblastoma Cell Phenotype via the Epigenetic Repression of SOX3.

Glioblastomas (GBs) are incurable brain tumors. The persistence of aggressive stem-like tumor cells after cytotoxic treatments compromises therapeutic efficacy, leading to GBM recurrence. Forcing the GBM cells to irreversibly abandon their aggressive stem-like phenotype may offer an alternative to conventional cytotoxic treatments.

Glioblastoma cell motility depends on enhanced oxidative stress coupled with mobilization of a sulfurtransferase.

Cell motility is critical for tumor malignancy. Metabolism being an obligatory step in shaping cell behavior, we looked for metabolic weaknesses shared by motile cells across the diverse genetic contexts of patients' glioblastoma. Computational analyses of single-cell transcriptomes from thirty patients' tumors isolated cells with high motile potential and highlighted their metabolic specificities.