Human glioblastoma cells

T98G (TP53 mut, PTEN mut) [50 (link)] human glioblastoma cells were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA, U.S.A.). NCH644 and NCH421K stem cell-like glioma cells were obtained from Cell Line Services (CLS, Heidelberg, Germany). The identities of the glioblastoma cell lines we purchased were confirmed by the respective source of purchase. SF188 (TP53 mut, PTEN wt) [50 (link)] pediatric glioblastoma cells were kindly provided by Dr. Craig Thompson (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, U.S.A.). MGPP-3 (PDGF(+), p53(−/−), PTEN(−/−)) is a murine proneural glioblastoma cell which was kindly provided by Dr. Peter Canoll. All cells were cultured as previously described [51 (link)]. Briefly, T98G and MGPP-3 cells were cultured in DMEM with 10% FBS, 4.5 g/L glucose, 4 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM pyruvate, 100 units/ml penicillin and 100 μg/ml streptomycin for maintenance. For experimental conditions these cells were cultured in DMEM containing only 1.5% FBS to mimick the nutrition starved environment within tumors. For the culture of SF188 the fore-mentioned medium was supplemented in addition with 2 mM L-alanyl-L-glutamine (GlutaMAX™-I, Gibco, Japan). NCH644 and NCH421K glioma stem-like cells were cultured in MG-43 medium (CLS, Heidelberg, Germany) for both maintenance and experiments.