Justin D Lathia, Meizhang Li, Maksim Sinyuk, Alvaro G Alvarado, William A Flavahan, Kevin Stoltz, Ann Mari Rosager, James Hale, Masahiro Hitomi, Joseph Gallagher, Qiulian Wu, Jody Martin, Jason G Vidal, Ichiro Nakano, Rikke H Dahlrot, Steinbjørn Hansen, Roger E McLendon, Andrew E Sloan, Shideng Bao, Anita B Hjelmeland, Christian T Carson, Ulhas P Naik, Bjarne Kristensen, Jeremy N Rich
Stem cells reside in niches that regulate the balance between self-renewal and differentiation. The identity of a stem cell is linked with the ability to interact with its niche through adhesion mechanisms. To identify targets that disrupt cancer stem cell (CSC) adhesion, we performed a flow cytometry screen on patient-derived glioblastoma (GBM) cells and identified junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) as a CSC adhesion mechanism essential for self-renewal and tumor growth. JAM-A was dispensable for normal neural stem/progenitor cell (NPC) function, and JAM-A expression was reduced in normal brain versus GBM...
January 16, 2014: Cell Reports