Abstract 142: cdk5 inhibition promotes neurogenesis while reducing self-renewal of brain tumor stem cells

Cancer stem cells are biologically potent and support tumor growth, in part by deregulating asymmetric stem cell division. Asymmetric cell division of stem cells is a type of mitotic division where a stem cell generates one stem and one differentiated cell. Cancer stem cells, however, tend to generate more stem-like dividing cells to promote neoplasm. To uncover mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets relevant to self-renewal in human glioma stem cells (GSCs), we performed a genetic screen for kinases that reverse the tumor phenotype of our novel adult Drosophila brain tumor model and found that knockdown of the brain-specific dCdk5 was highly effective in suppressing the self-renewing stem cell components. A highly specific CDK5 inhibitor is promoting neurogenesis among these fly brain cancer stem cells. These cancer stem cells, although they express glial markers in tumors, do not differentiate into …