Glioblastoma and cerebral organoids: development and analysis of an in vitro model for glioblastoma migration.

It is currently challenging to adequately model the growth and migration of glioblastoma using two-dimensional (2D) in vitro culture systems as they quickly lose the original, patient-specific identity and heterogeneity. However, with the advent of three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures and human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cerebral organoids (COs), studies demonstrate that the glioblastoma-CO (GLICO) coculture model helps to preserve the phenotype of the patient-specific tissue. Here, we aimed to set up such a model using mature COs and develop a pipeline for subsequent analysis of cocultured glioblastoma. Our data demonstrate that the growth and migration of the glioblastoma cell line within the mature COs are significantly increased in the presence of extracellular matrix proteins, shortening the time needed for glioblastoma to initiate migration. We also describe in detail the method for the visualization and quantification of these migrating cells within the GLICO model. Lastly, we show that this coculture model (and the human brain-like microenvironment) can significantly transform the gene expression profile of the established U87 glioblastoma cell line into proneural and classical glioblastoma cell types.

Freshwater Cyanotoxin Cylindrospermopsin Has Detrimental Stage-specific Effects on Hepatic Differentiation From Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) has been recognized as a potent waterborne hepatotoxin with an increasing environmental occurrence. However, CYN effects on the specific populations of hepatic cells involved in liver tissue development, renewal, and regeneration, have not been characterized yet. We used human embryonic stem cells to analyze the hepatic differentiation stage-specific effect of CYN. Our results strongly suggest that CYN might contribute to the development of chronic adverse outcomes by disrupting liver tissue homeostasis in terms of (1) cellular stress and damage induced in the mature differentiated hepatocytes, which was associated with a necrotic cell death and thus possibly also inflammatory responses; (2) selective elimination of HNF4α+ cells from populations of progenitor cells and immature hepatocytes during hepatic differentiation, which could possibly lead to an impaired liver renewal and regeneration; (3) impaired hepatic functions of immature hepatocytes, such as decreased albumin secretion or increased lipid accumulation, which could contribute to the development of liver steatosis; and (4) survival of the immature and AFP-expressing cells with the limited ability to further differentiate, which could represent a tumor-promoting condition.

Tyrosine Kinase Expressed in Hepatocellular Carcinoma, TEC, Controls Pluripotency and Early Cell Fate Decisions of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells via Regulation of Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Secretion.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) require signaling provided by fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptors. This can be initiated by the recombinant FGF2 ligand supplied exogenously, but hPSC further support their niche by secretion of endogenous FGF2. In this study, we describe a role of tyrosine kinase expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (TEC) kinase in this process. We show that TEC-mediated FGF2 secretion is essential for hPSC self-renewal, and its lack mediates specific differentiation. Following both short hairpin RNA- and small interfering RNA-mediated TEC knockdown, hPSC secretes less FGF2. This impairs hPSC proliferation that can be rescued by increasing amounts of recombinant FGF2. TEC downregulation further leads to a lower expression of the pluripotency markers, an improved priming towards neuroectodermal lineage, and a failure to develop cardiac mesoderm. Our data thus demonstrate that TEC is yet another regulator of FGF2-mediated hPSC pluripotency and differentiation. Stem Cells 2017;35:2050-2059.