Project Summary: Aldape-Lang

Ken Aldape, MD, Fred Lang, MD

The current marker for isolating glioma cancer stem cells (GCSCs), CD133, has proven to be suboptimal, and better markers are needed so that precise targeting of GCSCs can be achieved; the Aldape lab identified a new protein, podoplanin (pdpn), which more precisely identifies GCSCs compared with CD133.
Other evidence indicates that GSCSs alone do not account for all the features of GBMs, particularly vascular proliferation; the Aldape/Lang lab has shown that other recruited cells, particularly human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), provide critical contributions to GBM formation and increase therapeutic resistance of GCSCs.
Investigators propose to test the hypothesis that a) GBMs consist of GCSCs, which are the tumor initiating cells, and tumor-derived hMSC, which increase the aggressiveness of GBMs by providing the proper environment for tumor growth, and b) the cross-talk between these cell types contributes to the therapeutic resistance of gliomas.