Identification of phenotypic neural stem cells in a pediatric astroblastoma.

Object: The goal of this study was to illustrate the findings of a significant subpopulation of cells within a pediatric astroblastoma that have the specific cell surface phenotype found on known human neural stem cells.

Methods: Cells with a cell surface marker profile characteristic of human neural stem cells were isolated using fluorescence-activated cell sorting from a mostly nonmitotic astroblastoma removed from the brain of an 11-year-old girl. An unusually high proportion (24%) of the cells were CD133 positive and CD24, CD34, and CD45 negative (CD133(+)CD24(-)CD34(-)CD45(-) cells), the phenotypic antigenic pattern associated with neural stem cells; very few CD133-positive cells were not also CD24, CD34, and CD45 negative. Some cells (12%) were CD34 positive, indicating the presence within the tumor of hematopoietic stem cells. Cells formed cytospheres that resembled neurospheres when seeded into stem cell media and coexpressed beta-tubulin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) but did not express the oligodendrocyte marker O4. Cell proliferation was demonstrated by incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine. The cells lost their capacity for self-renewal in vitro after four to six passages, although they continued to coexpress beta-tubulin and GFAP. The cells did not differentiate into neurons or astrocytes when placed in differentiation medium.

Conclusions: Although this astroblastoma contained a high proportion of phenotypic neural stemlike cells, the cells had limited proliferative capacity and multipotency. Their role in astroblastoma formation and growth is unknown.