Exploring the Functional Roles of Telomere Maintenance 2 in the Tumorigenesis of Glioblastoma Multiforme and Drug Responsiveness to Temozolomide

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a grade IV human glioma. It is the most malignant primary central nervous system tumor in adults, accounting for around 15% of intracranial neoplasms and 40–50% of all primary malignant brain tumors. However, the median survival time of GBM patients is still less than 15 months, even after treatment with surgical resection, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, and adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ). Telomere maintenance 2 (TELO2) mRNA is highly expressed in high-grade glioma patients, and its expression correlates with shorter survival outcomes. Hence, it is urgent to address the functional role of TELO2 in the tumorigenesis and TMZ treatment of GBM. In this study, we knocked down TELO2 mRNA in GBM8401 cells, a grade IV GBM, compared with TELO2 mRNA overexpression in human embryonic glial SVG p12 cells and normal human astrocyte (NHA) cells. We first analyzed the effect of TELO2 on the Elsevier pathway and Hallmark gene sets in GBM8401, SVG p12, and NHA via an mRNA array analysis. Later, we further examined and analyzed the relationship between TELO2 and fibroblast growth factor receptor 3, cell cycle progression, epithelial–mesenchymal transient (EMT), reactive oxygen species (ROS), apoptosis, and telomerase activity. Our data showed that TELO2 is involved in several functions of GBM cells, including cell cycle progression, EMT, ROS, apoptosis, and telomerase activity. Finally, we examined the crosstalk between TELO2 and the responsiveness of TMZ or curcumin mediated through the TELO2–TTI1–TTI2 complex, the p53-dependent complex, the mitochondrial-related complex, and signaling pathways in GBM8401 cells. In summary, our work provides new insight that TELO2 might modulate target proteins mediated through the complex of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinases in its involvement in cell cycle progression, EMT, and drug response in GBM patients.