Authors: Cui, Jingyi et al.

Journal: Cell Biology and Toxicology (2023)

Institution: Department of Neurobiology, School of Life Sciences, China Medical University, Shenyang, China

Research Areas: Cancer Research

Cell Lines: U251, U373, human astrocytes, HEK293T (Human glioblastoma cells, human kidney cells)

Summary: This paper investigates how a small RNA called SNORD17 regulates vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in glioblastoma (GBM) cells. VM is a process in which tumor cells form blood vessels that support tumor growth and resistance to therapy. The authors show that SNORD17 is highly expressed in GBM and promotes VM by modifying another RNA called KAT6B. KAT6B is a gene regulator that can inhibit VM by affecting a protein called ZNF384. SNORD17 binds to KAT6B and adds a methyl group to it, which reduces its stability and activity. This leads to less KAT6B protein and more ZNF384 activity, which in turn increases the expression of genes that are involved in VM. The authors confirm their findings in a mouse model of GBM and suggest that targeting SNORD17 or KAT6B could be a new strategy to treat GBM.The authors used HoloMonitor to monitor the motility of GBM cells under different conditions.

Keywords: HoloMonitor M4, single cell tracking, 2’-O-methylation, vasculogenic mimicry, glioblastoma, SNORD17, KAT6B, ZNF384, cell biology, pharmacology/toxicology, biochemistry, general