Generation of a PAX6 knockout glioblastoma cell line with changes in cell cycle distribution and sensitivity to oxidative stress

BACKGROUND: The transcription factor PAX6 is expressed in various cancers. In anaplastic astrocytic glioma, PAX6 expression is inversely related to tumor grade, resulting in low PAX6 expression in Glioblastoma, the highest-grade astrocytic glioma. The aim of the present study was to develop a PAX6 knock out cell line as a tool for molecular studies of the roles PAX6 have in attenuating glioblastoma tumor progression. METHODS: The CRISPR-Cas9 technique was used to knock out PAX6 in U251 N cells. Viral transduction of a doxycycline inducible EGFP-PAX6 expression vector was used to re-introduce (rescue) PAX6 expression in the PAX6 knock out cells. The knock out and rescued cells were rigorously characterized by analyzing morphology, proliferation, colony forming abilities and responses to oxidative stress and chemotherapeutic agents. RESULTS: The knock out cells had increased proliferation and colony forming abilities compared to wild type cells, consistent with clinical observations indicating that PAX6 functions as a tumor-suppressor. Cell cycle distribution and sensitivity to H(2)O(2) induced oxidative stress were further studied, as well as the effect of different chemotherapeutic agents. For the PAX6 knock out cells, the percentage of cells in G2/M phase increased compared to PAX6 control cells, indicating that PAX6 keeps U251 N cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Interestingly, PAX6 knock out cells were more resilient to H(2)O(2) induced oxidative stress than wild type cells. Chemotherapy treatment is known to generate oxidative stress, hence the effect of several chemotherapeutic agents were tested. We discovered interesting differences in the sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs (Temozolomide, Withaferin A and Sulforaphane) between the PAX6 expressing and non-expressing cells. CONCLUSIONS: The U251 N PAX6 knock out cell lines generated can be used as a tool to study the molecular functions and mechanisms of PAX6 as a tumor suppressor with regard to tumor progression and treatment of glioblastoma. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4394-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.