Characterization of stem like cells in a new astroblastoma cell line

Astroblastomas are uncommon neuroepithelial tumors of glial origin. It predominantly affects younger people mainly teenagers and children with a high female proportion. Only a single study so far reported that astroblastoma contains a high amount of neural stem like cells which had only partial proliferation capacity and differentiation. In our study a patient derived astroblastoma cell line was generated and presence of cancer stem cells was investigated. Primary cell lines are powerful tools for clarifying the biological characteristics of a cancer and for developing effective treatment strategies. Characterization for astroblastoma and stem cell markers through flow cytometric and gene expression analyses, capacity to differentiate into other lineages and recapitulation of the original tumor has been studied through several methods. The presence of stem cells in this heteregenous cell population might allow is to learn about the initiation, progression and chemoresistance of this specific astroblastoma cell line. This new cell line might be used as a model cell line for further studies that scientific people might have an interest in astroblastoma.