Jose C

Due to its aggressive and invasive nature glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and aggressive primary brain tumour in adults, remains almost invariably lethal. Significant advances in the last several years have elucidated much of the molecular and genetic complexities of GBM. However, GBM exhibits a vast genetic variation and a wide diversity of phenotypes that has complicated the development of effective therapeutic strategies. This complex pathogenesis makes it necessary the development of experimental models that could be used to further understand the disease, and also to provide a more realistic testing ground for potential therapies. In this report, we describe the process of transformation of primary mouse embryo astrocytes into immortalized cultures with neural stem cell characteristics, that are able to generate of GBM when injected in the brain of C57BL/6 mice, or heterotopic tumours when injected iv. Overall, our results show that oncogenic transformation is a fate for NS...

Oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) is a complex process, in which activation of oncogenic signals during early tumorigenesis results in a high degree of DNA replication stress. The ensuing response to the DNA damage produces a permanent G1 arrest that prevents unlimited cell proliferation and lessens the development of tumours. However, despite the role of OIS in the proliferative arrest resulting from an activating oncogenic-lesion has obtained wide support, there is also evidence indicating that cells may overcome oncogene-induced senescence under some circumstances. In this study, we have investigated the possibility that some of the assumptions on the role of DNA damage response (DDR) in triggering OIS may depend on the fact that most of the available data were obtained in mouse embryo fibroblast. By comparing the degree of OIS observed in mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEF) and mouse embryo astrocytes (MEA) obtained from the same individuals we have demonstrated that, despite truthfu...