Abstract

Background
The NG2 expression status has been reported to correlate with a superior migrative behaviour of cell lines bearing an engineered NG2 expression status. Therefore we investigated the invasive properties of cell populations with endogenous NG2 expression, which had been separated in regard to their NG2 expression status.

Method
Cell lines derived under serum-free conditions from Glioblastoma specimen following the Cambridge protocol show endogenous expression of the proteoglycan NG2. The cells got separated into NG2 positive and negative fraction using FACS. The invasive behaviour of the two cell fractions has been studied using boyden chamber assays. A microarray dataset of NG2 positive and negative cells, obtained from previous experiments, has been re-analysed.

Results
Using established protocols of measuring invasion, no difference could be found in the invasive properties of cells displaying NG2 on the cell surface and those which do not. Also no link could be found between the transcription of NG2 and protein classes, namely MMPs and ADAMs, which have been shown to regulate migration and invasion in GBM models.

Conclusion
Invasive behaviour of GBM derived cell lines is not defined by the cell NG2 expression status of the cell. Also, the expression of migratory proteins is not linked to the expression of NG2.