Maria Tampakaki

Ms. Maria Tampakaki

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

8Years (2019-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 August 2019 in Tissue and Cell
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
MOMariam-Eleni Oraiopoulou
Mariam-Eleni Oraiopoulou
MTMaria Tampakaki
Maria Tampakaki
ETEleftheria Tzamali
Eleftheria Tzamali
TTTheodoros Tamiolakis
Theodoros Tamiolakis
VMVenediktos Makatounakis
Venediktos Makatounakis
JPJoseph (Sifis) Papamatheakis
Joseph (Sifis) Papamatheakis

Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MTMaria Tampakaki
Maria Tampakaki
MOMariam-Eleni Oraiopoulou
Mariam-Eleni Oraiopoulou
ETEleftheria Tzamali
Eleftheria Tzamali
GTGeorgios Tzedakis
Georgios Tzedakis
TMTakis Makatounakis
Takis Makatounakis
Vangelis SakkalisVangelis Sakkalis
Vangelis Sakkalis
Glioblastoma is the most malignant brain tumor among adults. Despite multimodality treatment, it remains incurable, mainly because of its extensive heterogeneity and infiltration in the brain parenchyma. Recent evidence indicates dysregulation of the expression of the Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein (PML) in primary Glioblastoma samples. PML is implicated in various ways in cancer biology. In the brain, PML participates in the physiological migration of the neural progenitor cells, which have been hypothesized to serve as the cell of origin of Glioblastoma. The role of PML in Glioblastoma progression has recently gained attention due to its controversial effects in overall Glioblastoma evolution. In this work, we studied the role of PML in Glioblastoma pathophysiology using the U87MG cell line. We genetically modified the cells to conditionally overexpress the PML isoform IV and we focused on its dual role in tumor growth and invasive capacity. Furthermore, we targeted a PML action mediator, the Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2), via the inhibitory drug DZNeP. We present a combined in vitro–in silico approach, that utilizes both 2D and 3D cultures and cancer-predictive computational algorithms, in order to differentiate and interpret the observed biological results. Our overall findings indicate that PML regulates growth and invasion through distinct cellular mechanisms. In particular, PML overexpression suppresses cell proliferation, while it maintains the invasive capacity of the U87MG Glioblastoma cells and, upon inhibition of the PML-EZH2 pathway, the invasion is drastically eliminated. Our in silico simulations suggest that the underlying mechanism of PML-driven Glioblastoma physiology regulates invasion by differential modulation of the cell-to-cell adhesive and diffusive capacity of the cells. Elucidating further the role of PML in Glioblastoma biology could set PML as a potential molecular biomarker of the tumor progression and its mediated pathway as a therapeutic target, aiming at inhibiting cell growth and potentially clonal evolution regarding their proliferative and/or invasive phenotype within the heterogeneous tumor mass.