The proneural gene ASCL1 governs the transcriptional subgroup affiliation in glioblastoma stem cells by directly repressing the mesenchymal gene NDRG1.
Importantly, force-expression of Ascl1 was shown to drive proliferative reactive astroglia formed during stroke and glioblastoma stem cells towards neuronal differentiation, and this could potentially diminish CNS damage resulting from their proliferation.
Here, we show that a large subset of patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) express high levels of Achaete-scute homolog 1 (ASCL1), a proneural transcription factor involved in normal neurogenesis.