Significant up-regulation of CD73 gene expression by reactive astrocytes was demonstrated in several experimental models of human neuropathologies, including ischemia (Braun et al., 1998), temporal lobe epilepsy (Bonan et al., 2000, Bonan, 2012), traumatic brain injury (Nedeljkovic et al., 2006; Bjelobaba et al., 2011), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Gandelman et al., 2010), experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) (Lavrnja et al., 2015) and glioma (Xu et al., 2013). This evidence concerns the gene NT5E and central nervous system cancer.