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.