MicroRNAs (miR) show characteristic expression signatures in various cancers and can profoundly affect cancer cell behavior. We carried out miR expression profiling of human glioblastoma specimens versus adjacent brain devoid of tumor. This revealed several significant alterations, including a pronounced reduction of miR-128 in tumor samples. miR-128 expression significantly reduced glioma cell proliferation in vitro and glioma xenograft growth in vivo. miR-128 caused a striking decrease in expression of the Bmi-1 oncogene, by direct regulation of the Bmi-1 mRNA 3′-untranslated region, through a single miR-128 binding site. In a panel of patient glioblastoma specimens, Bmi-1 expression was significantly up-regulated and miR-128 was down-regulated compared with normal brain. Bmi-1 functions in epigenetic silencing of certain genes through epigenetic chromatin modification. We found that miR-128 expression caused a decrease in histone methylation (H3K27me3) and Akt phosphorylation, and up-regulation of p21CIP1 levels, consistent with Bmi-1 down-regulation. Bmi-1 has also been shown to promote stem cell self-renewal; therefore, we investigated the effects of miR-128 overexpression in human glioma neurosphere cultures, possessing features of glioma “stem-like” cells. This showed that miR-128 specifically blocked glioma self-renewal consistent with Bmi-1 down-regulation. This is the first example of specific regulation by a miR of a neural stem cell self-renewal factor, implicating miRs that may normally regulate brain development as important biological and therapeutic targets against the “stem cell–like” characteristics of glioma. [Cancer Res 2008;68(22):9125–30]

Binding of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) to programmed cell death protein-1 (PD1) leads to cancer immune evasion via inhibition of T cell function. One of the defining characteristics of glioblastoma, a universally fatal brain cancer, is its profound local and systemic immunosuppression. Glioblastoma has also been shown to generate extracellular vesicles (EVs), which may play an important role in tumor progression. We thus hypothesized that glioblastoma EVs may be important mediators of immunosuppression and that PD-L1 could play a role. We show that glioblastoma EVs block T cell activation and proliferation in response to T cell receptor stimulation. PD-L1 was expressed on the surface of some, but not of all, glioblastoma-derived EVs, with the potential to directly bind to PD1. An anti-PD1 receptor blocking antibody significantly reversed the EV-mediated blockade of T cell activation but only when PD-L1 was present on EVs. When glioblastoma PD-L1 was up-regulated by IFN-γ, EVs also showed some PD-L1–dependent inhibition of T cell activation. PD-L1 expression correlated with the mesenchymal transcriptome profile and was anatomically localized in the perinecrotic and pseudopalisading niche of human glioblastoma specimens. PD-L1 DNA was present in circulating EVs from glioblastoma patients where it correlated with tumor volumes of up to 60 cm³. These results suggest that PD-L1 on EVs may be another mechanism for glioblastoma to suppress antitumor immunity and support the potential of EVs as biomarkers in tumor patients.

PTEN (Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) expression in stromal fibroblasts suppresses epithelial mammary tumours, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Using proteomic and expression profiling, we show that Pten loss from mammary stromal fibroblasts activates an oncogenic secretome that orchestrates the transcriptional reprogramming of other cell types in the microenvironment. Downregulation of miR-320 and upregulation of one of its direct targets, ETS2 (v-ets erythroblastosis virus E26 oncogene homolog 2) are critical events in Pten-deleted stromal fibroblasts responsible for inducing this oncogenic secretome, which in turn promotes tumour angiogenesis and tumour-cell invasion. Expression of the Pten–miR-320–Ets2-regulated secretome distinguished human normal breast stroma from tumour stroma and robustly correlated with recurrence in breast cancer patients. This work reveals miR-320 as a critical component of the Pten tumour-suppressor axis that acts in stromal fibroblasts to reprogramme the tumour microenvironment and curtail tumour progression.

Extracellular vesicles have emerged as important mediators of intercellular communication in cancer, including by conveying tumor-promoting microRNAs between cells, but their regulation is poorly understood. In this study, we report the findings of a comparative microRNA profiling and functional analysis in human glioblastoma that identifies miR-1 as an orchestrator of extracellular vesicle function and glioblastoma growth and invasion. Ectopic expression of miR-1 in glioblastoma cells blocked in vivo growth, neovascularization, and invasiveness. These effects were associated with a role for miR-1 in intercellular communication in the microenvironment mediated by extracellular vesicles released by cancer stem–like glioblastoma cells. An extracellular vesicle–dependent phenotype defined by glioblastoma invasion, neurosphere growth, and endothelial tube formation was mitigated by loading miR-1 into glioblastoma-derived extracellular vesicles. Protein cargo in extracellular vesicles was characterized to learn how miR-1 directed extracellular vesicle function. The mRNA encoding Annexin A2 (ANXA2), one of the most abundant proteins in glioblastoma-derived extracellular vesicles, was found to be a direct target of miR-1 control. In addition, extracellular vesicle–derived miR-1 along with other ANXA2 extracellular vesicle networking partners targeted multiple pro-oncogenic signals in cells within the glioblastoma microenvironment. Together, our results showed how extracellular vesicle signaling promotes the malignant character of glioblastoma and how ectopic expression of miR-1 can mitigate this character, with possible implications for how to develop a unique miRNA-based therapy for glioblastoma management. Cancer Res; 74(3); 738–50. ©2013 AACR.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have an undefined role in the pathobiology of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). These tumors are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous with transcriptome subtype-specific GBM stem-like cells (GSCs) that adapt to the brain tumor microenvironment, including hypoxic niches. We identified hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha-antisense RNA 2 (HIF1A-AS2) as a subtype-specific hypoxia-inducible lncRNA, upregulated in mesenchymal GSCs. Its deregulation affects GSC growth, self-renewal, and hypoxia-dependent molecular reprogramming. Among the HIF1A-AS2 interactome, IGF2BP2 and DHX9 were identified as direct partners. This association was needed for maintenance of expression of their target gene, HMGA1. Downregulation of HIF1A-AS2 led to delayed growth of mesenchymal GSC tumors, survival benefits, and impaired expression of HMGA1 in vivo. Our data demonstrate that HIF1A-AS2 contributes to GSCs' speciation and adaptation to hypoxia within the tumor microenvironment, acting directly through its interactome and targets and indirectly by modulating responses to hypoxic stress depending on the subtype-specific genetic context.