A glioblastoma neurosphere line with alternative lengthening of telomeres

Neoplastic cells must maintain telomeres in order to replicate extensively, often by inducing telomerase activity. However, some tumors use a telomerase-independent mechanism dependent upon homologous recombination known as alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) [1]. ALT has been identified in 11–24 % of glioma tissue samples [2–4], but has been demonstrated in only one glioma cell line (TG20) [5]. In this brief letter, we describe a second ALT-positive glioblastoma (GBM) cell line.