Transcriptome of glioblastoma stem cells and H9NSC (HOXA-AS2 depletion or overexpression)

Glioblastoma multiform account for about half of all gliomas and are the most deadly and aggressive forms. Its therapeutic resistance and tumor relapse rely on a subpopulation of cells, the so-called Glioma-stem Cells (GSCs). Here, we investigated for the role of the long non-coding RNA HOXA-AS2 in GSC biology by conducting descriptive and functional analyses of glioma samples classified according to their isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH1) gene mutation status, and of glioma stem cells. We found that HOXA-AS2 is overexpressed only in aggressive (IDHwt) glioma and GSC. Sh-RNA-based depletion of HOXA-AS2 affects GSC both at the cellular and molecular levels with a decrease in proliferation and altered expression of several hundreds of their genes. Integrative analysis revealed that these changes is expression are not associated to changes in DNA methylation or chromatin signature at the promoter of most deregulated genes following HOXA-AS2 silencing in GSC, supporting a post-transcriptional regulation. In addition, transcription factor motif enrichment and correlation analyses sustained that HOXA-AS2 affect, directly or indirectly, expression of key transcription factors of GCS biology, including E2F8, E2F1, STAT1 and ATF3 to, in fine, contributes to their pathological status by promoting proliferation and modulating the inflammation pathway of Glioma Stem Cell. HOXA-AS2 was depleted in human glioblastoma stem cells. HOXA-AS2 was overexpressed in human neural stem cells.