Differentiation-inducing activity of neomycin in cultured rat glioma cells

Induction of cellular differentiation is an attractive therapeutic strategy against glioma cell proliferation and tumorigenicity. Preliminary in vitro studies have indicated that neomycin inhibits the proliferation of cultured glioma cells and induces changes in cellular morphology, making it potentially useful as a therapeutic agent for gliomas. The purpose of this work was to expand on the preliminary research by investigating the differentiation effect of neomycin in rat C6 glioma cells, using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) staining as a reliable marker of differentiation for normal astrocytes and for tumors of astrocytic lineage. Cell cultures were grown in the absence or presence of 10 mM neomycin sulfate for 48 hours. Neomycin treatment produced changes in cell morphology and GFAP expression indicative of cellular differentiation. These results suggest that neomycin is an attractive differentiation agent for the treatment of gliomas.