Microtubule‐associated NAV3 regulates invasive phenotypes in glioblastoma cells

Research Overview

Glioblastomas remain lethal partly because of their phenotypic plasticity — tumor-core cells coexist with dispersed, highly invasive ones. Neuron navigator 3 (NAV3), a microtubule-associated protein governing microtubule growth and dynamics, is downregulated in many cancers including glioblastoma and has therefore been labeled a tumor suppressor.

This study challenges that label. Across glioblastoma cell lines and patient-derived glioma stem-like cultures, NAV3 was upregulated in actively invading cells and lower in cells residing in tumor spheroid cores — an expression pattern that tracks invasion phenotype rather than tumor presence, and links NAV3 to the invasive state itself.