CNRS ERL7368 - Poitiers - Microenvironnement des niches tumorales

Niches Cancer CGO
Teams
CNRS ERL7368 - Poitiers

CNRS ERL 7368 - STIM Laboratory

Calcium, Microenvironment and stem cells (CMCS)

Team description

Gliomas, like other tumors, originate from a complex sequence of events that allow the development of tumoral aberrant structures in a normal tissue. The cascade of events leading to tumor development begins with mutations in a pool of cells and ends with the construction of a complete tumoral microenvironment that permits tumor survival and progression. Several studies have suggested that malignant glioma may derive for part at least, from mutated neural stem/progenitor cells. The major reservoir of neural stem/progenitor cells is the subventricular zone (SVZ) that borders the lateral ventricles. In previous experimental studies, lentiviral directed mutation of SVZ neural stem/progenitor cells lead to the development of gliomas that migrate away from the SVZ and invade other brain areas. Along with clinical data, the studies indicate that glioma can arise from neural stem/progenitor cells. Glioma tissue contains not only cancer cells but also a considerable amount of non-transformed cells among which, neural stem/progenitor cells deriving from the SVZ that home into pathologic tumoral brain tissue. Accordingly, knowledge of the mechanisms controlling neural stem cells activity and the impact of the interaction between neural stem cells and tumoral cells is at the crossroads for the understanding of the mechanisms of glioma development and progression.

Our group has settled-up the know-how and has developed a research activity on mechanisms of neural stem cells control. The results obtained have lead to major contributions in the field during the last years. Among these research findings, the team uncovered microenvironmental factors that control neural stem cells proliferation and differentiation. Our contribution in this project will be aimed at determining the neural stem cells activity within the tumoral microenvironment and its effect on tumoral progression.