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Targeting mitotic kinesin KIF20A: A differentiation-based therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma stem/progenitor cells.

Overview

Authors: Runxiang Qiu1, Alejandra Velazquez Ojeda1, Cesar Gonzalez1, Vincente Abatay1, Jun Wu2, Dina Awabdeh1, Renate Starr3, Nadia Carlesso1, Sarah Shuck4, Yun Rose Li5, Christine E. Brown3, Michael E. Barish1, Qiang Lu1
ORCID iDs: Sarah Shuck, Qiang Lu
  1. Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA
  2. Division of Comparative Medicine, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA
  3. Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratories, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA
  4. Department of Diabetes & Cancer Metabolism, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA
  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA
Journal: Stem cell reports, volume 21, issue 8, article 103013
Dates: received 28 April 2025; accepted 15 June 2026; published online 16 July 2026; in print August 2026
Type: Brief report · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.stemcr.2026.103013 · PMID 42462712 · PMCID PMC13476882 · OpenAlex W7169334087
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: human (organism), mouse (organism), other condition (population)
Methods: Statistics, Evoked potentials
Keywords: glioblastoma, tumor stem/progenitor cells, proliferation, differentiation, cell fate control, KIF20A, differentiation therapy
MeSH: Brain Neoplasms*, Cell Differentiation*, Glioblastoma*, Kinesins*, Neoplastic Stem Cells*, Animals, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation, Humans, Mice, Mitosis, Neural Stem Cells (* major topic)
Topic: Microtubule and mitosis dynamics (Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology), according to OpenAlex
Funding: City of Hope; National Cancer Institute (P30CA033572)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 34 references in the paper
Research resources: NeuN RRID:AB_10807945, p21 (EPR362) RRID:AB_10860537, TBR1 RRID:AB_10989634, DCX RRID:AB_2088494, KIF20A (L-13) RRID:AB_2131559, SOX5 RRID:AB_2271083, Caspase 3 RRID:AB_2341188, NeuN RRID:AB_2633050, TBR1 RRID:AB_2936859, Ki67 RRID:AB_302459, Caspase 3 RRID:AB_397274, Ki67 RRID:AB_442101

Abstract

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains refractory to current treatment modalities. Differentiation-based approaches, which force cancer stem/progenitor cells to exit the cell cycle and adopt terminal fates, offer an alternative therapeutic strategy. Cell fate regulators operating during stem/progenitor cell divisions integrate proliferative and anti-proliferative cues and represent particularly attractive points of intervention. Here, we investigated the therapeutic potential of targeting mitotic kinesin KIF20A in GBM stem/progenitor cells. KIF20A is a crucial component of cytokinetic machinery and cooperates with a network of cell fate regulators to balance proliferative and differentiative divisions in neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs). Using complementary in vitro and in vivo models, including 2D cultures, 3D organoids, and intracranial xenografts, we show that inhibition of KIF20A drives cell cycle exit and induces a postmitotic/differentiated state in GBM stem/progenitor cells, resulting in a marked suppression of proliferation. Together, these findings establish KIF20A as a key vulnerability in GBM and a promising target for differentiation-based intervention.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data and code availability

• Any information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request. • This study does not report original code.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 2, 28 September 2026

  • Authors: added Qiang Lu (0000-0001-5753-9988); removed Qiang Lu

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 13 authors, 7 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 34 references, 12 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Qiu, R., Ojeda, A. V., Gonzalez, C., Abatay, V., Wu, J., Awabdeh, D., Starr, R., Carlesso, N., Shuck, S., Li, Y. R., Brown, C. E., Barish, M. E., & Lu, Q. (2026). Targeting mitotic kinesin KIF20A: A differentiation-based therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma stem/progenitor cells. Stem cell reports, 21(8), 103013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2026.103013

BibTeX

@article{qiu2026targeting,
author = {Qiu, Runxiang and Ojeda, Alejandra Velazquez and Gonzalez, Cesar and Abatay, Vincente and Wu, Jun and Awabdeh, Dina and Starr, Renate and Carlesso, Nadia and Shuck, Sarah and Li, Yun Rose and Brown, Christine E. and Barish, Michael E. and Lu, Qiang},
title = {{Targeting mitotic kinesin KIF20A: A differentiation-based therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma stem/progenitor cells}},
journal = {Stem cell reports},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
volume = {21},
number = {8},
pages = {103013},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2213-6711},
doi = {10.1016/j.stemcr.2026.103013},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2026.103013},
pmid = {42462712},
pmcid = {PMC13476882}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Qiu, Runxiang
AU - Ojeda, Alejandra Velazquez
AU - Gonzalez, Cesar
AU - Abatay, Vincente
AU - Wu, Jun
AU - Awabdeh, Dina
AU - Starr, Renate
AU - Carlesso, Nadia
AU - Shuck, Sarah
AU - Li, Yun Rose
AU - Brown, Christine E.
AU - Barish, Michael E.
AU - Lu, Qiang
TI - Targeting mitotic kinesin KIF20A: A differentiation-based therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma stem/progenitor cells
T2 - Stem cell reports
J2 - Stem Cell Reports
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/16
VL - 21
IS - 8
SP - 103013
SN - 2213-6711
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/j.stemcr.2026.103013
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2026.103013
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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