%0 Journal Article %T MET signaling promotes DNA repair and radiation resistance in glioblastoma stem-like cells %A Todorova, Pavlina Krasimirova %A Mukherjee, Bipasha %A Burma, Sandeep %J Annals of Translational Medicine %D 2017 %B 2017 %9 %! MET signaling promotes DNA repair and radiation resistance in glioblastoma stem-like cells %K %X Glioblastomas (GBMs) are primary brain tumors characterized by aggressive growth and rapid recurrence. They represent a leading cause of cancer-related deaths both in adult and pediatric patients (1,2). Despite the considerable success in understanding the genetic and molecular drivers of gliomagenesis, the current standard of care provides, at best, a transient remission. Newly-diagnosed GBM patients, who receive de-bulking surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy combined with temozolomide chemotherapy, have an average survival of 14.6 months (3). Invariably, patients succumb to recurrence-related death despite aggressive treatment regimens. The inevitable failure of current experimental and standard treatments has been attributed to two key features of GBM. First, the marked inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity prevents successful application of targeted monotherapies (4,5). Second, the existence of distinct GBM cancer stem cells which are refractory to treatment may drive tumor recurrence (5,6). These resilient stem-like cells present in the primary GBM are positively selected for, and oftentimes genetically altered, by ionizing radiation (IR) and/or temozolomide (7,8). As a result, the recurrent tumors no longer respond to radiation or chemotherapy. There is an urgent need to identify such therapy-resistant cells in the primary tumor, understand the molecular basis of therapy resistance, and develop strategies to effectively target these cells in primary or recurrent tumors. %U https://atm.amegroups.org/article/view/13576 %V 5 %N 3 %P 61 %@ 2305-5847