Targeting self-renewal is an important goal in cancer therapy and recent studies have focused on Notch signalling in the maintenance of stemness of glioma stem cells (GSCs). Understanding cancer-specific Notch regulation would improve specificity of targeting this pathway. In this study, we find that Notch1 activation in GSCs specifically induces expression of the lncRNA, TUG1. TUG1 coordinately promotes self-renewal by sponging miR-145 in the cytoplasm and recruiting polycomb to repress differentiation genes by locus-specific methylation of histone H3K27 via YY1-binding activity in the nucleus. Furthermore, intravenous treatment with antisense oligonucleotides targeting TUG1 coupled with a drug delivery system induces GSC differentiation and efficiently represses GSC growth in vivo. Our results highlight the importance of the Notch-lncRNA axis in regulating self-renewal of glioma cells and provide a strong rationale for targeting TUG1 as a specific and potent therapeutic approach to eliminate the GSC population.

Recent studies have described the important multiple roles of long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) during oncogenic transformation. Because the coding genome accounts for a small amount of total DNA, and many mutations leading to cancer occur in the non‐coding genome, it is plausible that the dysregulation of such non‐coding transcribes might also affect tumor phenotypes. Indeed, to date, lncRNAs have been reported to affect diverse biological processes through the regulation of mRNA stability, RNA splicing, chromatin structure, and miRNA‐mediated gene regulation by acting as miRNA sponges. Furthermore, accumulating studies have described the roles of lncRNAs in tumorigenesis; however, the precise mechanisms of many lncRNAs are still under investigation. Here, we discuss recently reported mechanistic insights into how lncRNAs regulate gene expression and contribute to tumorigenesis through interactions with other regulatory molecules. We especially highlight the role of taurine upregulated gene 1, which was recently reported to have biological functions related to gene regulation, and discuss the future clinical implications of lncRNAs in cancer treatments.

Tumor cell plasticity contributes to functional and morphologic heterogeneity. To uncover the underlying mechanisms of this plasticity, we examined glioma stem-like cells (GSC) where we found that the biologic interconversion between GSCs and differentiated non-GSCs is functionally plastic and accompanied by gain or loss of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), a complex that modifies chromatin structure. PRC2 mediates lysine 27 trimethylation on histone H3 and in GSC it affected pluripotency or development-associated genes (e.g., Nanog, Wnt1, and BMP5) together with alterations in the subcellular localization of EZH2, a catalytic component of PRC2. Intriguingly, exogenous expression of EZH2-dNLS, which lacks nuclear localization sequence, impaired the repression of Nanog expression under differentiation conditions. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated attenuation or pharmacologic inhibition of EZH2 had little to no effect on apoptosis or bromodeoxyuridine incorporation in GSCs, but it disrupted morphologic interconversion and impaired GSC integration into the brain tissue, thereby improving survival of GSC-bearing mice. Pathologic analysis of human glioma specimens revealed that the number of tumor cells with nuclear EZH2 is larger around tumor vessels and the invasive front, suggesting that nuclear EZH2 may help reprogram tumor cells in close proximity to this microenvironment. Our results indicate that epigenetic regulation by PRC2 is a key mediator of tumor cell plasticity, which is required for the adaptation of glioblastoma cells to their microenvironment. Thus, PRC2-targeted therapy may reduce tumor cell plasticity and tumor heterogeneity, offering a new paradigm for glioma treatment. Cancer Res; 73(14); 4559-70. Ó2013 AACR.