Neuronal stem cells in the central nervous system and in human diseases

Abstract

The process of cortical expansion in the central nervous system is a key step of mammalian brain development to ensure its physiological function. Radial glial (RG) cells are a glial cell type contributing to this progress as intermediate neural progenitor cells responsible for an increase in the number of cortical neurons. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of RG cells during neurogenesis and provide further information on the mechanisms of neurodevelopmental diseases and stem cell-related brain tumorigenesis. Knowledge of neuronal stem cell and relative diseases will bridge benchmark research through translational studies to clinical therapeutic treatments of these diseases.

Pre-B-cell leukemia homeobox interacting protein 1 is overexpressed in astrocytoma and promotes tumor cell growth and migration

“…31,32,30,31 Radial glia cells ultimately differentiate into astrocytes and ependymal cells, 31,45 whereas oligodendrocytes are derived from oligodendrocyte precursor cells. 30,44 Interestingly, in analogy to this expression pattern, we showed that PBXIP1 is expressed in malignant astrocytoma and ependymoma but not in oligodendroglioma.…”

“…High-grade gliomas and ependymomas often share stem-cell like characteristics with radial and early progenitor cells, either being ontologically derived from these cells or resulting from dedifferentiation of mature cells. 43,44 We therefore investigated the expression of PBXIP1 in the developing human brain. Indeed, PBXIP1 van Vuurden et al: PBXIP1 in glial brain tumors was strongly coexpressed with the astrocytic progenitor marker GFAP-d in the SVZ of the developing human brain, indicating that PBXIP1 plays a role in astrocyte progenitor cells.…”

Expression of amyloid precursor-like protein 2 (APLP2) in glioblastoma is associated with patient prognosis

“…Current studies have shown evidence that APLP2 plays a key role in the essential biological decision of differentiating a neuronal stem cell into a neuron [28]. Recent findings also indicate that these normal stem cells have the similar phenotype and function with glioblastoma stem cells, including self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation [33]. It is revealed that both types of stem cell may share some common molecular mechanisms such as the APLP2 signal.…”

Genes and brain malformations associated with abnormal neuron positioning

“…Neural progenitors can undergo self-renewal or give rise to neurons at the ventricular/subventricular zone in the developing cerebral cortex [ 8 – 10 ]. Reduced numbers of neural progenitors caused by depletion of progenitor pools or slow proliferation result in microcephaly with otherwise normal brain structure [ 11 , 12 ]. However, microcephaly can also occur in combination with a migration defect, i.e., microcephaly with pachygyria (Norman-Roberts syndrome) [ 13 ].…”