Cancer gene therapyAug 25, 2018

Blocking SATB1 may help overcome drug resistance by changing gene levels in human brain cancer cells

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 4, 2026

Abstract

In recurrent glioblastoma tumors, SATB1 and MGMT protein levels are increased while SLC22A18 levels are decreased.

Upregulation of SATB1 and MGMT, along with downregulation of SLC22A18, is associated with TMZ resistance in GBM U87 cells.
Inactivation of SATB1 using shRNA leads to reduced MGMT expression and increased SLC22A18 expression in GBM cells.
Immunohistochemical analysis shows a significant positive correlation between MGMT and SATB1 levels, and a negative correlation between SLC22A18 and SATB1 levels.
In paired samples of recurrent and primary tumors, SATB1 and MGMT levels were higher in recurrent lesions, while SLC22A18 levels were lower.
Knockdown of SATB1 enhances the effectiveness of TMZ in resistant GBM cells.

Simplified

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant tumor of the central nervous system and has a very poor prognosis. Currently, patients were treated by resection followed by radiotherapy plus concurrent temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy. However, many patients are resistant to TMZ-induced DNA damage because of upregulated expression of the DNA repair enzyme O-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). In this study, upregulation of SATB1 and MGMT, and downregulation of SLC22A18 resulted in acquisition of TMZ resistance in GBM U87 cells. Inactivation of special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 1 (SATB1) using short hairpin RNA (shRNA) downregulated MGMT expression and upregulated solute carrier family 22 member 18 (SLC22A18) expression in GBM cells. This suggested SATB1-mediated posttranscriptional regulation of the MGMT and SLC22A18 protein levels. Immunohistochemical analysis of malignant glioma specimens demonstrated a significant positive correlation between the levels of MGMT and SATB1, and a negative correlation between the levels of SLC22A18 and SATB1. Importantly, in recurrent, compared with the primary, lesions in 15 paired identical tumors, the SATB1 and MGMT protein levels were increased and the SLC22A18 levels were decreased. Finally, in TMZ-resistant GBM, SATB1 knockdown enhanced TMZ efficacy. Consequently, SATB1 inhibition might be a promising strategy combined with TMZ chemotherapy to treat TMZ-resistant GBM. 6

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Blocking SATB1 may help overcome drug resistance by changing gene levels in human brain cancer cells

Abstract

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