Intrinsic Interferon Signaling Regulates The Cell Death Of Glioblastoma Stem Cells

Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common, highly aggressive, and lethal primary brain tumor in adults. Interferon (IFN)-mediated signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) signaling contributes to various aspects of stemness, cell death, cytokine signaling in immune and non-immune cells. However, the role of IFN/STAT1 signaling in stemness, cell death and treatment resistance in GBM is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the cancer cell-intrinsic IFN/STAT1 signaling and its role in cell proliferation, stemness, and apoptosis. By using the metagene scores for type I and type II IFN-responsive genes, we evaluated basal IFN/STAT1 signaling in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and in patient-derived cohorts of stem-like cells (GSCs) RNA expression datasets. In-silico analyses were further validated for the constitutive IFN signaling in a subset of GSCs using qPCR, WB and ELISA assays. We employed pharmacological activators and/or inhibitors of IFN/STAT1 signaling in GSCs to study its role in stemness and cell death. We found differential cell-intrinsic type I and type II IFN-signaling markers in GSCs and GBM tumors. High IFN-signaling is associated with mesenchymal phenotype and poor survival outcomes. Acute and chronic GSC exposure to recombinant IFNs reversibly activated both type I and II IFN-signaling in GSCs. IFN-β exposure induced apoptosis in intrinsically high IFN/STAT1-signaling GSCs, but not in the low IFN/STAT1-signaling GSCs. In summary, our findings demonstrate that GBM exhibit differential cell-intrinsic IFN-signaling, and basal IFN/STAT1 is a key factor for IFN-β-mediated cell death in GSCs. However, further mechanistic investigation of intrinsic IFN signaling in GBM, particularly in the stem cell compartment is needed.