Epigenetic regulation of MYC modulates glioblastoma tumorigenicity. Homo sapiens

One aspect of intra-tumoral heterogeneity in glioblastoma involves subpopulations of cells capable of self-renewal and indefinite propagation. Conceptually, this capacity is frequently treated as a static property. Here we provide data suggesting that tumorigenicity in glioblastomais a dynamic property that can be acquired or lost. Integrated expression analyses suggest that tumorigenicity is determined by the level of MYC expression relative to a threshold. Transitions between tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic cell states are associated with changes in histone modifications at the MYC locus, suggesting tumorigenicity is epigenetically regulated. Overall design: To verify genomic stability at the nucleotide level, we tested whether subclones derived from single cells shared common Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Ten single cell-derived subclones of U87MG underwent SNP profiling by Affymetrix Human Mapping 250K Nsp arrays.