Our study uncovered a critical molecular crosstalk between TAMs and GSCs through the PTN-PTPRZ1 paracrine signalling to support GBM malignant growth, indicating that targeting this signalling axis may have therapeutic potential.
To study the relevance of this ligand-receptor pair for glioma growth in vitro and in vivo, we transfected the human glioblastoma cell line U251-MG with small interfering RNA (siRNA) directed against PTPzeta/RPTPbeta.
Indeed, the action of recombinant, short-RPTPbeta extracellular domain protein is similar to that of phosphacan as a repulsive substrate for glioblastoma cells.