Fig. 1

Heterogeneous tumor subpopulations possess different functional stemness capacity. a Schematic diagram depicting the isolation and characterization of patient-derived glioblastoma (GBM) cells. Created using Biorender.com. b Flow cytometry dot plots of CD133/PROM1 expression in CD133/PROM1^LOW and CD133/PROM1^HIGH patient-derived GBM cells. c Western blot analysis comparing the expression of BMI1, SOX2 and Nestin in CD133/PROM1^LOW and CD133/PROM1^HIGH patient-derived GBM cells and the graph represents densitometry quantification from three independent experiments. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sided students t test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns = non-significant. d CD133/PROM1^LOW and CD133/PROM1^HIGH patient-derived GBM cells were subjected to neurosphere formation analysis and the graph represents the quantification of neurospheres > 50 µm in size. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sided students t-test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns = non-significant. e Graph showing the proportion of wells without neurospheres formed in limiting dilution assay from CD133/PROM1^LOW and CD133/PROM1^HIGH patient-derived GBM cells. Table represents the Limiting Dilution Analysis calculations generated using ELDA software from https://bioinf.wehi.edu.au/software/elda/