Autophagy Activation Associates with Suppression of Prion Protein and Improved Mitochondrial Status in Glioblastoma Cells

Cells from glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) feature up-regulation of the mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR), which brings deleterious effects on malignancy and disease course. At the cellular level, up-regulation of mTOR affects a number of downstream pathways and suppresses autophagy, which is relevant for the neurobiology of GBM. In fact, autophagy acts on several targets, such as protein clearance and mitochondrial status, which are key in promoting the malignancy GBM. A defective protein clearance extends to cellular prion protein (PrPc). Recent evidence indicates that PrPc promotes stemness and alters mitochondrial turnover. Therefore, the present study measures whether in GBM cells abnormal amount of PrPc and mitochondrial alterations are concomitant in baseline conditions and whether they are reverted by mTOR inhibition. Proteins related to mitochondrial turnover were concomitantly assessed. High amounts of PrPc and altered mitochondria were both mitigated dose-dependently by the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, which produced a persistent activation of the autophagy flux and shifted proliferating cells from S to G1 cell cycle phase. Similarly, mTOR suppression produces a long-lasting increase of proteins promoting mitochondrial turnover, including Pink1/Parkin. These findings provide novel evidence about the role of autophagy in the neurobiology of GBM.