Figure 5

Cell invasion properties of GBM CSC. (A) In absence of GF p-CSC1 have higher invasive ability than c-CSC1 on matrigel invasion assay. Addition of GF promotes invasiveness of both cell populations of case 1, which is blocked by AG1478. Drugs combination don’t improve the effect of monotherapy but induces a strong repression of MMP9 protein expression. The values of MMP9 repression are calculated respect to DMSO-vehicle. (B) In absence of GF, p-CSC2 have higher invasive ability than c-CSC2. Addition of GF promotes the invasiveness of both cell populations of case 2 but only the combination of GSI-X and AG1478 significantly impairs the invasive performance of c-CSC2 and p-CSC2, which correlates to reduction of MMP9 protein. The values of MMP9 repression are calculated respect to DMSO-vehicle. (C) In absence of GF c-CSC3 holds higher invasive ability than p-CSC3 and similarly to other cases the addition of GF favors significantly their invasive features. AG1478 impairs c-CSC3 invasion but not p-CSC3. Moreover, drug combination increases the effect of AG1478 monotherapy only in c-CSC3. This finding correlates to a decline of MMP9 protein expression. Conversely, p-CSC3 shows drug resistance and retains high levels of MMP9. The values of MMP9 repression are calculated respect to DMSO-vehicle. Error bars represent the mean ± SD (n = 3). All data shown are representative of results obtained from experiments conducted three times.