cells Review Relevance of Translation Initiation in Diffuse Glioma Biology and its Therapeutic Potential Digregorio Marina 1, Lombard Arnaud 1,2, Lumapat Paul Noel 1, Scholtes Felix 1,2, Rogister Bernard 1,3 and Coppieters Natacha 1,* 1 Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders and Therapy, GIGA-Neurosciences Research Centre, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium;
[email protected] (D.M.);
[email protected] (L.A.);
[email protected] (L.P.N.);
[email protected] (S.F.);
[email protected] (R.B.) 2 Department of Neurosurgery, CHU of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium 3 Department of Neurology, CHU of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 18 October 2019; Accepted: 26 November 2019; Published: 29 November 2019 Abstract: Cancer cells are continually exposed to environmental stressors forcing them to adapt their protein production to survive. The translational machinery can be recruited by malignant cells to synthesize proteins required to promote their survival, even in times of high physiological and pathological stress. This phenomenon has been described in several cancers including in gliomas. Abnormal regulation of translation has encouraged the development of new therapeutics targeting the protein synthesis pathway. This approach could be meaningful for glioma given the fact that the median survival following diagnosis of the highest grade of glioma remains short despite current therapy. The identification of new targets for the development of novel therapeutics is therefore needed in order to improve this devastating overall survival rate. This review discusses current literature on translation in gliomas with a focus on the initiation step covering both the cap-dependent and cap-independent modes of initiation.