Musashi1 (MSI1) is an
RNA-binding protein that plays critical roles in nervous-system development and stem-cell self-renewal. Here, we examined its role in the progression of
glioma.
Short hairpin RNA (
shRNA)-based MSI1-knock down (KD) in
glioblastoma and
medulloblastoma cells resulted in a significantly lower number of self renewing colony on day 30 (a 65% reduction), compared with non-silencing
shRNA-treated control cells, indicative of an inhibitory effect of MSI1-KD on
tumor cell growth and survival. Immunocytochemical staining of the MSI1-KD
glioblastoma cells indicated that they ectopically expressed metaphase markers. In addition, a 2.2-fold increase in the number of MSI1-KD cells in the G2/M phase was observed. Thus, MSI1-KD caused the prolongation of mitosis and reduced the cell survival, although the expression of activated
Caspase-3 was unaltered. We further showed that MSI1-KD
glioblastoma cells xenografted into the brains of NOD/SCID mice formed
tumors that were 96.6% smaller, as measured by a bioluminescence imaging system (BLI), than non-KD cells, and the host survival was longer (49.3±6.1 days vs. 33.6±3.6 days; P<0.01). These findings and other cell
biological analyses suggested that the reduction of MSI1 in
glioma cells prolonged the cell cycle by inducing the accumulation of
Cyclin B1. Furthermore, MSI1-KD reduced the activities of the Notch and
PI(3) kinase-Akt signaling pathways, through the up-regulation of Numb and PTEN, respectively. Exposure of
glioma cells to chemical inhibitors of these pathways reduced the number of spheres and living cells, as did MSI1-KD. These results suggest that MSI1 increases the growth and/or survival of certain types of
glioma cells by promoting the activation of both Notch and
PI(3) kinase/Akt signaling.