PER2 inhibits proliferation and stemness of glioma stem cells via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

Glioblastoma is a highly malignant tumor that contains stem-like cells known as glioma stem cells (GSCs), which lare associated with an increased risk of glioma occurrence, recurrence and poor prognosis. Circadian clock gene, period circadian clock 2 (PER2) expression has been revealed to be inhibited in various types of cancer. However, the precise role and potential mechanisms of PER2 in GSCs remains unclear. The present study demonstrated that PER2 mRNA and protein expression was downregulated in GSCs compared with non-stem glioma cells, which indicated that PER2 could be involved in the malignant process of glioma. Furthermore, functional studies revealed that PER2 overexpression could induce GSC arrest at the G0/G1 phase and suppress their proliferation, stemness and invasion ability in vitro and in vivo. Subsequently, the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was identified as the target of PER2 in GSCs. These results indicated that PER2 plays a critical role in regulating the stemness of GSCs and provides a novel therapeutic target to overcome the effects of GSCs.