CBMS-02 CROSSTALK WITH ASTROCYTES ESTABLISHES TUMOR EDGE IN GLIOBLASTOMA

Clinical outcomes for patients with glioblastoma (GBM) are extremely poor due to inevitable tumor recurrence even after extensive treatments. These recurrences are thought to manifest from cells located within the tumor edge. Despite this, the precise molecular mechanism governing GBM spatial phenotypic heterogeneity (e.g. edge vs. core) and subsequent tumor recurrence remains poorly elucidated. Here, using patient-derived GBM core and edge tissues, we analyzed transcriptional and metabolic signatures in an effort to determine how GBM facilitates the edge phenotype and its associated recurrence-initiating cells (RICs). In so doing, we unexpectedly identified CD38 as an essential protein in the formation of the edge phenotype and found a CD38-driven interaction between edge GBM cells and neighboring astrocytes that communally develops a GBM edge that is unresectable by surgery and retains RICs. These findings have profound implications for future clinical therapies and provide new mechanistic insights into both tumor progression and recurrence.