EGFR Amplification and Glioblastoma Stem-Like Cells

Figure 1

EGF/EGFR-dependent plasticity of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSC) and glioma stem-like cells (GS-cells). (a) In NSCs, EGF promotes self-renewal and proliferation, while withdrawal of EGF leads to terminal differentiation along astrocytic, neuronal, and oligodendrocytic lineages. (b) In GS-cells, EGF modulates the expression of EGFR at the protein level and EGFR amplification present in the original tumor. Withdrawing EGF from cell culture can in some cases lead to an upregulation of EGFR expression, while repeated stimulation with exogenous EGF reduces the amount of EGFR in the cells.

(a)

(b)