Glioblastoma, the most common brain tumor, is composed of a heterogeneous population of cells, some of which are the progeny of tumor-initiating cell and others are recruited into the tumor. A majority of cells in the tumor mass are expressing stem cell and immature glia markers. Our interest is to characterize the relevant cell subpopulations in the tumor mass as a first step to developing a targeted therapy. We will achieve this by combining the glioblastoma model developed in the Holland laboratory at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with the method of the polysome profiling developed in the Heinz laboratory at the Rockefeller University. We will use this technology to determine the actively translated mRNAs in stem cells, which in turn would provide immense insight into the biology of these cells and their role in cancer biology.
1: Milosevic A, Noctor SC, Martinez-Cerdeno V, Kriegstein AR, Goldman JE. Progenitors from the postnatal forebrain subventricular zone differentiate into cerebellar-like interneurons and cerebellar-specific astrocytes upon transplantation. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2008 Jul 30. [Epub ahead of print]
2: Milosevic A, Goldman JE. Potential of progenitors from postnatal cerebellar neuroepithelium and white matter: lineage specified vs. multipotent fate. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2004 Jun;26(2):342-53.
Zerlin M, Milosevic A, Goldman JE. Glial progenitors of the neonatal subventricular zone differentiate asynchronously, leading to spatial dispersion of glial clones and to the persistence of immature glia in the adult mammalian CNS.
Dev Biol. 2004 Jun 1;270(1):200-13.