BACKGROUND Improved treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) needs to address tumor invasion, a hallmark of the disease that remains poorly understood. In this study, we profiled GBM invasion through integrative analysis… Click to show full abstract
BACKGROUND Improved treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) needs to address tumor invasion, a hallmark of the disease that remains poorly understood. In this study, we profiled GBM invasion through integrative analysis of histological and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from ten patients. METHODS Human histology samples, patient-derived xenograft mouse histology samples, and scRNA-seq data were collected from ten GBM patients. Tumor invasion was characterized and quantified at the phenotypic level using H&E and Ki-67 histology stains. Crystallin alpha B (CRYAB) and CD44 were identified as regulators of tumor invasion from scRNA-seq transcriptomic data and validated in vitro, in vivo, and in a mouse GBM resection model. RESULTS At the cellular level, we found that invasive GBM are less dense and proliferative than their non-invasive counterparts. At the molecular level, we identified unique transcriptomic features that significantly contribute to GBM invasion. Specifically, we found that CRYAB significantly contributes to post-operative recurrence and is highly co-expressed with CD44 in invasive GBM samples. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, our analysis identifies differentially expressed features between invasive and nodular GBM, and describes a novel relationship between CRYAB and CD44 that contributes to tumor invasiveness, establishing a cellular and molecular landscape of GBM invasion.
               
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