TRIM8-driven transcriptomic profile of neural stem cells identified glioma-related nodal genes and pathways

Background: We recently reported TRIM8, encoding an E3 ubiquitin ligase, as a gene aberrantly expressed in glioblastoma whose expression suppresses cell growth and induces a significant reduction of clonogenic potential in glioblastoma cell lines. Methods: we provided novel insights on TRIM8 functions by profiling the transcriptome of TRIM8-expressing primary mouse embryonal neural stem cells by RNA-sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Functional analysis including luciferase assay, western blot, PCR arrays, Real time quantitative PCR were performed to validate the transcriptomic data. Results: Our study identified enriched pathways related to the neurotransmission and to the central nervous system (CNS) functions, including axonal guidance, GABA receptor, Ephrin B, synaptic long-term potentiation/depression, and glutamate receptor signalling pathways. Finally, we provided additional evidence about the existence of a functional interactive crosstalk between TRIM8 and STAT3. Conclusions: Our results substantiate the role of TRIM8 in the brain functions through the dysregulation of genes involved in different CNS-related pathways, including JAK-STAT. General significance: This study provides novel insights on the physiological TRIM8 function by profiling for the first time the primary Neural Stem Cell over-expressing TRIM8 by using RNA-Sequencing methodology.