CD133 Is a Marker of Bioenergetic Stress in Human Glioma

Mitochondria dysfunction and hypoxic microenvironment are hallmarks of cancer cell biology. Recently, many studies have focused on isolation of brain cancer stem cells using CD133 expression. In this study, we investigated whether CD133 expression is regulated by bioenergetic stresses affecting mitochondrial functions in human glioma cells. First, we determined that hypoxia induced a reversible up-regulation of CD133 expression. Second, mitochondrial dysfunction through pharmacological inhibition of the Electron Transport Chain (ETC) produced an up-regulation of CD133 expression that was inversely correlated with changes in mitochondrial membrane potential. Third, generation of stable glioma cells depleted of mitochondrial DNA showed significant and stable increases in CD133 expression. These glioma cells, termed rho0 or ρ0, are characterized by an exaggerated, uncoupled glycolytic phenotype and by constitutive and stable up-regulation of CD133 through many cell passages. Moreover, these ρ0 cells display the ability to form “tumor spheroids” in serumless medium and are positive for CD133 and the neural progenitor cell marker, nestin. Under differentiating conditions, ρ0 cells expressed multi-lineage properties. Reversibility of CD133 expression was demonstrated by transfering parental mitochondria to ρ0 cells resulting in stable trans-mitochondrial “cybrid” clones. This study provides a novel mechanistic insight about the regulation of CD133 by environmental conditions (hypoxia) and mitochondrial dysfunction (genetic and chemical). Considering these new findings, the concept that CD133 is a marker of brain tumor stem cells may need to be revised

Decoding Lamarck-transgenerational control of metabolism by noncoding RNAs

The concept of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance (ETI) posits that lifetime experiences in parents, particularly fathers, alter the phenotypic trajectory of their progeny independently of Mendelian genetics. Based on evidence from population studies and laboratory-controlled studies in syngenic animals, this long-term discredited so-called Lamarckian inheritance gained prominent attention. This article aims to summarize the current knowledge about ETI in lower and in higher organisms as well as in human cohorts and elaborates on epigenetic principles potentially underlying this nongenetic mode of heredity. Special attention is given to-small and long-noncoding RNAs in male gametes that recently emerged as a molecular sensor of organismal metabolic states which can ultimately relay information across the germline barrier by translating environmental cues into (epigenetic) changes in zygotic gene expression