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MicroRNA-378 enhances radiation response in ectopic and orthotopic implantation models of glioblastoma

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Abstract

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and highly malignant primary brain tumor, which is virtually incurable due to its therapeutic resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. To develop novel therapeutic approaches for treatment of GBM, we examined the role of miR-378 on tumor growth, angiogenesis, and radiation response in ectopic and orthotopic U87 glioblastoma models. Cell and tumor growth rates, in vitro and in vivo radiation sensitivities, and tumor vascular density were evaluated in U87-GFP and U87-miR-378 tumor lines. Ectopic tumor response to radiation was evaluated under normal blood flow and clamp hypoxic conditions. Results show that in vitro, miR-378 expression moderately increased cell growth rate and plating efficiency, but did not alter radiation sensitivity. U87-miR-378 tumors exhibited a higher transplantation take rate than U87-GFP tumors. In vivo, under oxygenated condition, subcutaneous U87-miR-378 tumors receiving 25 Gy showed a tendency for longer tumor growth delay (TGD) than control U87-GFP tumors. In contrast, under hypoxic condition, U87-miR-378 xenografts exhibited substantially shorter TGD than U87-GFP tumors, indicating that under normal blood flow conditions, U87-miR-378 tumors were substantially more oxygenated than U87-GFP tumors. Intracranial multi-photon laser-scanning microscopy demonstrated increased vascular density of U87-miR-378 versus control U87-GFP tumors. Finally, miR-378 increased TGD following 12 Gy irradiation in U87 intracranial xenografts, and significantly prolonged survival of U87-miR-378 tumor-bearing mice (P = 0.04). In conclusion, higher miR-378 expression in U87-miR-378 cells promotes tumor growth, angiogenesis, radiation-induced TGD, and prolongs survival of orthotopic tumor-bearing hosts. Regulation of VEGFR2 by miR-378 significantly increased vascular density and oxygenation in U87 xenografts.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Cox-7 animal care team members for their excellent animal support; Sylvie Roberge, Shanmin Chin, Xiaolong Qi and Mark Badeaux for their technical advice and support; Cissy Huang for her assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. Funding supported was provided by NCI/Federal Share Proton Beam Program Income to P.H. and R.K.J.; P01CA080124 and R01CA163815 to R.K.J.; and the National Foundation for Cancer Research to R.K.J.

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Author notes

  1. Wende Li

    Present address: Guangdong Key Laboratory of Laboratory Animals, Guangdong Laboratory Animal Monitoring Institute, Guangzhou, 510663, China

  2. Sen Li

    Present address: Department of Spinal Surgery, The Hospital (T.C.M) Affiliated to Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, 646000, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 100 Blossom Street, Cox-7, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Wende Li, Yujiao Liu, Xiaoxing Han, Sen Li, Hao Liu, Leo E. Gerweck, Dai Fukumura, Jay S. Loeffler, Rakesh K. Jain & Peigen Huang

  2. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada

    Weining Yang & Burton B. Yang

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada

    Weining Yang

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  1. Wende Li
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Li, W., Liu, Y., Yang, W. et al. MicroRNA-378 enhances radiation response in ectopic and orthotopic implantation models of glioblastoma. J Neurooncol 136, 63–71 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-017-2646-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-017-2646-y

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